'Hard' in the Bible

Is anything too difficult or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes, I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.”

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely.

When she was in hard labor the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; you now have another son.”

They made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar, brick, and all kinds of field work. All their labor was harsh and severe.

And I will make Pharaoh’s heart hard, and multiply My signs and My wonders (miracles) in the land of Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.

But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts and enchantments; so Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was [temporary] relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen or pay attention to them, just as the Lord had said.

But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, both he and his servants.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants [making them determined and unresponsive], so that I may exhibit My signs [of divine power] among them,

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, as they were leaving confidently and defiantly.

And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but every minor dispute they judged and decided themselves.

You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear and pay attention to the [cases of the] least [important] as well as the great. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you [to judge], you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

“Know [without any doubt], that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

“It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has served you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

“If any case is too difficult for you to judge—between one kind of homicide and another, between one kind of lawsuit and another, between one kind of assault and another, being controversial issues in your courts—then you shall arise and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

And the Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us.

When the ten thousand choice [fighting] men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle was hard and fierce; but the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was about to strike them.

The survivors [of Benjamin] turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel caught five thousand of them on the roads and overtook them at Gidom and killed two thousand of them.

When the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight situation (for their troops were hard-pressed), they hid in caves, in thickets, in cellars, and in [dry] cisterns (pits).

Today I am weak, though anointed king; these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too difficult for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer [Joab] in accordance with his wickedness!”

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with riddles.

“Your father made our yoke (burden) heavy; so now lighten the hard labor and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, and we will serve you.”

He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She was accompanied by a very large number of attendants, with camels bearing spices (balsam oil) and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was on her mind.

“Is not man forced to labor on earth?And are not his days like the days of a hired man?

You have made Your people experience hardship;You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger and fall.

My soul [my life, my very self] clings to You;Your right hand upholds me.

Your wrath has rested heavily upon me,And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.

They pour out words, speaking arrogant things;All who do evil boast proudly.

Therefore He humbled their heart with hard labor;They stumbled and there was no one to help.

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates,He has blessed your children within you.

Good understanding wins favor [from others],But the way of the unfaithful is hard [like barren, dry soil].

Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,Or desire his delicacies;

(The Shulammite Bride)“Under the apple tree I awakened you [to my love];There your mother was in labor with you,There she was in labor and gave you birth.“Put me like a seal on your heart,Like a seal on your arm;For love is as strong as death,Jealousy is as severe and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead).Its flashes are flashes of fire,[A most vehement flame] the very flame of the Lord!

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

“And I will hand over the Egyptians to a hard and cruel master,And a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord God of hosts.

A harsh vision has been shown to me;The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys.Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media!All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the Lord] have brought to an end.

“As often as it passes through, it will seize you;For morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night,And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful for You—

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for Me?”

I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you and pay attention to My message;

Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard [breaking through the waves] to return to land, but they could not, because the sea became even more violent [surging higher] against them.

“Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’