'Hard' in the Bible

For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.

Then he went on to say hard things to the towns where most of his works of power were done, because they had not been turned from their sins.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry."

For this people’s heart has grown callous;their ears are hard of hearing,and they have shut their eyes;otherwise they might see with their eyesand hear with their ears,understand with their heartsand turn back—and I would cure them.

Jesus said to them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts, but from the beginning it was not this way.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!

Saying, These last have done only one hour's work, and you have made them equal to us, who have undergone the hard work of the day and the burning heat.

They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them.

But it will be hard for women who are with child and for those with babies at the breast in those days.

Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held it out, and his hand was restored to health.

And He told His disciples to have a small boat stand ready for Him because of the many people, so that they would not crowd Him;

His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in around You [from all sides], and You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’”

for they understood not concerning the loaves, for their heart hath been hard.

And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Why are you reasoning among yourselves because you have no bread? do you still not see, and is it still not clear to you? are your hearts so hard?

Then again he put his hands on his eyes; and looking hard, he was able to see, and saw all things clearly.

But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts.

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

And it will be hard for women who are with child and for her who has a baby at the breast in those days.

And later he was seen by the eleven themselves while they were taking food; and he said sharp words to them because they had no faith and their hearts were hard, and because they had no belief in those who had seen him after he had come back from the dead.

And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;

“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.”

But be loving to those who are against you and do them good, and give them your money, not giving up hope, and your reward will be great and you will be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to evil men, and to those who have hard hearts.

And Jesus said, "Who [is] the one who touched me?" And [when they] all denied [it], Peter said, "Master, the crowds are pressing you hard and crowding [you]!"

Then He said: “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.

Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

because I was afraid of you. You are a hard man. You withdraw what you didn't deposit and harvest what you didn't plant.'

The king told him, "I will judge you by your own words, you evil servant! You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, and that I withdraw what I didn't deposit and harvest what I didn't plant?

For days will come upon you and your enemies will put up an embankment against you, and will surround you and press you hard from all directions.

It will be hard for women who are with child, and for her with a baby at the breast, in those days. For great trouble will come on the land, and wrath on this people.

Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

He has made their eyes blind, and their hearts hard; for fear that they might see with their eyes and get knowledge with their hearts, and be changed, and I might make them well.

You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord [and relentless in his search for believers], went to the high priest,

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said,

And even with these words, it was hard for them to keep the people from making an offering to them.

Why then are you testing God, by putting on the neck of the disciples a yoke so hard that not even our fathers or we were strong enough for it?

And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we should help the weak and remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And when we had gone on slowly for a long time, and had had hard work getting across to Cnidus, for the wind was against us, we went under cover of Crete, in the direction of Salmone;

And, sailing near the side of a small island named Cauda, we were able, though it was hard work, to make the ship's boat safe:

For the hearts of these peoplehave grown callous,their ears are hard of hearing,and they have shut their eyes;otherwise they might see with their eyesand hear with their ears,understand with their heart,and be converted,and I would heal them.

But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness;

Now it is hard for anyone to give his life even for an upright man, though it might be that for a good man someone would give his life.

So then, at his pleasure he has mercy on a man, and at his pleasure he makes the heart hard.

What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.

So I say, Were their steps made hard in order that they might have a fall? In no way: but by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that they might be moved to envy.

See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.

For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;

Then let us not be judges of one another any longer: but keep this in mind, that no man is to make it hard for his brother, or give him cause for doubting.

Do not let the work of God come to nothing on account of food. All things are certainly clean; but it is evil for that man who by taking food makes it hard for another.

Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you.

Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord.Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.

But we give the good news of Christ on the cross, a hard thing to the Jews, and a foolish thing to the Gentiles;

We do hard work, toiling with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we respond with a blessing, when persecuted, we endure,

nor theives, nor avaricious people, nor any who are addicted to hard drinking, to abusive language or to greed of gain, will inherit God's Kingdom.

If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.

Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.

but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.

to submit yourselves to people like these and to anyone else who shares their labor and hard work.

But if anyone has been a cause of sorrow, he has been so, not to me only, but in some measure to all of you (I say this that I may not be over-hard on you).

But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ.

Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed;

in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger;

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking foolishly) I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death.

in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing.

hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.

Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.

But I am hard-pressed between the two. I have the desire to leave [this world] and be with Christ, for that is far, far better;

as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I will be proud when the Messiah returns that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain.

Yes, I also ask you, my true partner, to help these women. They have worked hard with me to advance the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

I work hard and struggle to do this, using the energy that he powerfully provides in me.

Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or exasperate your children [with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by favoritism or indifference; treat them tenderly with lovingkindness], so they will not lose heart and become discouraged or unmotivated [with their spirits broken].

For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.

In the presence of our God and Father, we constantly remember how your faith is active, your love is hard at work, and your hope in our Lord Jesus the Messiah is enduring.

For you remember, believers, our labor and hardship. We worked night and day [practicing our trade] in order not to be a [financial] burden to any of you while we proclaimed the gospel of God to you.

We pray very hard night and day that we may see you again face to face, so that we may equip you with whatever is lacking in your faith.

And we did not take food from any man for nothing, but were working hard night and day not to be a trouble to any of you:

not a hard drinker nor given to blows; not selfish or quarrelsome or covetous;

To this end we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, that is, of those who believe.

The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops.

But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear].

For, as God's steward, a minister must be of blameless life, not over-fond of having his own way, not a man of a passionate temper nor a hard drinker, not given to blows nor greedy of gain,

For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.

Be not hard of heart, as when you made me angry, on the day of testing in the waste land,

But give comfort to one another every day as long as it is still Today; so that no one among you may be made hard by the deceit of sin:

As it is said, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.

After a long time, again naming a certain day, he says in David, Today (as he had said before), Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart,

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

For the order which said, If the mountain is touched even by a beast, the beast is to be stoned, seemed hard to them;

Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors.

For you have given time enough in the past to the doing of the things which the Gentiles delight in-- pursuing, as you did, a course of habitual licence, debauchery, hard drinking, noisy revelry, drunkenness and unholy image-worship.

"If it is hard for the righteous person to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and sinful person?"