The ultimate cause of suffering is sin, which has brought violence, disease and death into the world. All suffering, however, is under the sovereign purpose of God, who is able to use it for his glory. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. " To the woman He said: "I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." And to Adam He said: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground— because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.
For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come.
Then Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear, and he hurled it, thinking, "I will pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.
Then Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.
For strangers rise up against me, and ruthless men seek my life— men with no regard for God. Selah
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
Jesus took up this question and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him.
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.
In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way. They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom.
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, "If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt."
So when the rams' horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it. At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me." So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, "Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings." So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks. "Do not be afraid or discouraged," Joshua said. "Be strong and courageous, for the LORD will do this to all the enemies you fight." After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. And there they found Adoni-bezek and fought against him, striking down the Canaanites and Perizzites. As Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. Then Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.
The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. And the blood from his wound ran out onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country stay out of the city. For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword.
He replied, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.'
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is what your slave did to me," he burned with anger. So Joseph's master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king's prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,
So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and gave Naboth a seat of honor among the people. And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed both God and the king!" So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel: "Naboth has been stoned to death."
Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
They devise injustice and say, "We have perfected a secret plan." For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.
Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, "Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you should lighten the burden of your father's service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."
After three days, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, since the king had said, "Come back to me on the third day." And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, "Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions."
"For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will bring safety to him who yearns."
Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.
Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Yet you ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household idols.
a messenger came and reported to Job: "While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!"
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!"
My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me. My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth. My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family. Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me. All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,
Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. "Get up!" he said to her. "Be gone!"
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
"Here," said Abram, "your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her." Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.
So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son, and she said to Abraham, "Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!"
And Saul was furious and resented this song. "They have ascribed tens of thousands to David," he said, "but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?" And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace."
All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'
And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. And they cried out in a loud voice, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?" Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.
And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: "Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury."
Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?
Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.'"
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man.
He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: "The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!"
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!"
you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.
But Barzillai replied, "How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, "I find no pleasure in them,"
Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, "Do not weep."
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you put him?" He asked. "Come and see, Lord," they answered. Jesus wept.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. In the morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'If only it were morning!'—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see.
Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.
And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her. As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back." "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites."
The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.
He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.
Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
Finally he came to his senses and said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death!
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'"
"Very well," said the LORD to Satan. "Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
"Very well," said the LORD to Satan. "He is in your hands, but you must spare his life." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?"
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
When the thousand years are complete, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.
When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see.
And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon."
Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.
In Him we were also chosen as God's own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He told him, "Follow Me."
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
He was delivered up by God's set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." "The LORD has taken away your sin," Nathan replied. "You will not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die."
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke; for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them."
Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you."
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
"The Son of Man must suffer many things," He said. "He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.