60 Bible Verses about Sympathy
Most Relevant Verses
[But] you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief to take [it] into your hand. The helpless abandons [himself] upon you; you have been [the] helper [for the] orphan.
Blessed [is] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those [who are] in all affliction with the comfort with which [we] ourselves are comforted by God.
If indeed you require the cloak of your neighbor as a pledge, you will return it to him at sundown, because it is his only garment; it is his cloak for his skin. In what will he sleep? {And} when he cries out to me, I will hear, because I [am] gracious.
[And he] executes justice for the orphan and widow, and [he is] one who loves [the] alien, to give to them food and clothing.
And when Yahweh raised leaders for them, Yahweh was with the leader, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the leader, for Yahweh was moved by their groaning because of their persecutors and oppressors.
He will call upon me and I will answer him; I [will be] with him in trouble; I will rescue and honor him.
"Comfort; comfort my people," says your God. "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has {received} from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins."
As a man whose mother comforts him, so I myself will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
For thus says Yahweh, "You must not enter [the] house of [the] funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people," {declares} Yahweh, "the loyal love and the compassion. Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them.
{When its branches are dry}, they are broken; women [are] coming [and] setting light to it. For it [is] not a people of understanding; therefore his maker will not have compassion on him, and his creator will not show him favor.
Look from heaven, and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory. Where [are] your zeal and strength? {Your compassion} and mercy to me hold themselves back.
For we do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but who has been tempted in all [things] in the same way, without sin.
And [when he] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep that did not have a shepherd.
And becoming angry, he stretched out his hand [and] touched [him], and said to him, "I am willing; be made clean."
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a man [who is] a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
Therefore, since the children share in blood and flesh, he also in like manner shared in these [same things], in order that through death he could destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and could set free these who through fear of death were subject to slavery throughout all their lives. For surely he is not concerned with angels, but he is concerned with the descendants of Abraham.read more.
Therefore he was obligated to be made like his brothers in all [respects], in order that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things relating to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that which he himself suffered [when he] was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Jonathan got up from the table {enraged}, and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him.
Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him.
And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions.
The boy left, and then David got up from the south side, and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed {each other} and wept {together}, but David [wept] the most.
David said, "I will show loyal love with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed loyal love with me." So David sent to console him concerning his father, by the hand of his servants. And the servants of David came to the land of the {Ammonites}. But the commanders of the {Ammonites} said to Hanun their master, "{In your opinion}, [is] David honoring your father because he has sent condolences to you? [Is] it not in order to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it [that] David sent his servants to you?"
And David said, "I will deal kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And the servants of David came to the land of the {Ammonites}, to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the {Ammonites} said to Hanun, "{Do you think} because David sent comforters to you [that] David honors your father? Is it not for the purpose of exploring [so as] to overthrow and spy out the land that his servants have come to you?"
I myself also could talk as you, if {you were in my place}; I could join against you with words, and I could shake at you with my head. I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would ease the pain.
And God gave Daniel favor and compassion {before} the commander of the court officials,
(Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia. So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their brother.)
And you will not oppress an alien; you yourselves know the feelings of the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
And finally, all [of you be] harmonious, sympathetic, showing mutual affection, compassionate, humble,
" 'You will not mistreat an alien, and you will not oppress him, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
" 'And when an alien dwells with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The alien who is dwelling with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him like yourself, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I [am] Yahweh your God.
Is this not [the] fast I choose: to release [the] bonds of injustice, to untie [the] ropes of [the] yoke, and to let [the] oppressed go free, and {tear} every yoke to pieces? [Is it] not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring {home} [the] poor, [the] homeless. When you see [the] naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your {relatives}.
who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those [who are] in all affliction with the comfort with which [we] ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, thus through Christ our comfort overflows also. But if we are afflicted, [it is] for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, [it is] for your comfort that is at work in the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.read more.
And our hope for you [is] firm, [because we] know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so also [you will be sharers] in the comfort.
So then, you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow this person should be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
Who is weak, and [I am] not weak? Who is caused to sin, and I do not burn [with indignation]?
just as it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, [since] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you are sharers of grace with me.
Therefore, if [there is] any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Therefore, as [the] chosen of God, holy and [dearly] loved, put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,
just as you know how [we treated] each one of you, like a father his own children, exhorting and consoling you and insisting that you live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you to his own kingdom and glory.
Let a widow be put on the list [if she] is not less than sixty years [old], the wife of one husband, being well-attested by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has helped those who are oppressed, if she has devoted herself to every good work.
For you both sympathized with the prisoners and put up with the seizure of your belongings with joy [because you] knew that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.
Remember the prisoners, as [though you were] fellow-prisoners; [remember] the mistreated, as [though] [you] yourselves also are being [mistreated] in the body.
Reproach has broken my heart and I am sick. And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}.
"Loyal love [should come] for the afflicted [from] his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of Shaddai. My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed; like a streambed of wadis they flow away, which are growing dark because of ice upon them, it will pile up snow.read more.
In time they dry up, they disappear; when it [is] hot, they vanish from their place. The paths of their way wind [around]; they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.
Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace, especially to my neighbors, and a dread to my acquaintances. [Those who] see me in the street flee from me. I have become forgotten like [one] dead, out of {mind}. I am like a destroyed vessel.
My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction, and my relatives stand afar off.
Even {my close friend}, whom I trusted, [who] ate my bread, has lifted [his] heel against me.
For I hear the rumor of many, "Terror [is] from all around, denounce [him], yes, let us denounce him!" {All my close friends} [are] watchers of my stumbling, [saying], "perhaps he can be persuaded, and we can prevail over him, and we can take our revenge on him."
For these [things], I am weeping, {my eyes flow with tears}; because a comforter is far from me, one to restore my life. My sons are desolate because [the] enemy has prevailed.
Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?'
From Thematic Bible
Barnabas » Characteristics of » Sympathy
So Joseph, who was called Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated "son of encouragement"), a Levite of Cyprus by nationality, sold a field that belonged to him [and] brought the money and placed [it] at the feet of the apostles.
Sympathy » The marks of true » Examples of
Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him.
All of the land [was] weeping [with] a loud voice as all the people [were] passing by and the king [was] crossing through the Wadi Kidron, and all the people [were] passing {on the road to the wilderness}.
So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their brother.)
Sympathy » The marks of true » Burden-bearing
Therefore, as [the] chosen of God, holy and [dearly] loved, put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,
But we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Sympathy » The marks of true » Helpfulness
I have shown you [with respect to] all [things] that [by] working hard in this way it is necessary to help those who are in need, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Sympathy » The marks of true » Visitation of the needy
And finally, all [of you be] harmonious, sympathetic, showing mutual affection, compassionate, humble,
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Sympathy » The marks of true » Fellow-feeling for the unfortunate
Remember the prisoners, as [though you were] fellow-prisoners; [remember] the mistreated, as [though] [you] yourselves also are being [mistreated] in the body.
Sympathy » The marks of true » Benevolence
[Is it] not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring {home} [the] poor, [the] homeless. When you see [the] naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your {relatives}.
Topics on Sympathy
Divine Sympathy
Psalm 78:39for he remembered that they [were] flesh, a passing wind that does not return.