50 Bible Verses about Tragedy

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:

Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity:

Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “My Lord God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?”

When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains come on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Or those 18 that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem?

If you do nothing in a difficult time,
your strength is limited.

I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity.
I will mock when terror strikes you,

The Lord will protect you from all harm;
He will protect your life.

Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.

No disaster overcomes the righteous,
but the wicked are full of misery.

When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

Devise a plan; it will fail.
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.

Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “My Lord God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”

For man certainly does not know his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them.

Whatever you plot against the Lord,
He will bring it to complete destruction;
oppression will not rise up a second time.

He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Don’t gloat when your enemy falls,
and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

Don’t fear sudden danger
or the ruin of the wicked when it comes,

He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our offenses.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

The righteous one perishes,
and no one takes it to heart;
faithful men are swept away,
with no one realizing
that the righteous one is swept away
from the presence of evil.

I form light and create darkness,
I make success and create disaster;
I, Yahweh, do all these things.

I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.

Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.

Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient,

He slept with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. So he named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his home.

During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.

All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death.

So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:

Before the days of adversity come,
and the years approach when you will say,
“I have no delight in them”;

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in my heart!
My heart pounds;
I cannot be silent.
For you, my soul,
have heard the sound of the ram’s horn—
the shout of battle.

He redeems your life from the Pit;
He crowns you with faithful love and compassion.

Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.
I will howl like the jackals
and mourn like ostriches.

Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

Yahweh is now about to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a horrible affliction.

For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

For He does not enjoy bringing affliction
or suffering on mankind.

Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced judgment on me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

David was in a difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, for they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

You will be driven mad by what you see.

She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and to the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.