Quotations about suffering

But the All-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with a ** fatal and invisible stroke; and as soon as he had ceased speaking this word, an incurable pain of the bowels seized him, and bitter torments of the inner parts;

and that most justly, for he had tormented other men’s bowels with many and strange sufferings.

But he in no wise ceased from his rude insolence; nay, still more was he filled with arrogancy, breathing fire in his passion against the Jews, and commanding to haste the journey. But it came to pass moreover that he fell from his chariot as it rushed along, and having a grievous fall was racked in all the members of his body.

And he that but now supposed himself to have the waves of the sea at his bidding, so vainglorious was he beyond the condition of a man, and that thought to weigh the heights of the mountains in a balance, was now brought to the ground and carried in a litter, †† showing to all that the power was manifestly God’s;

so that out of the body of the impious man worms swarmed, and while he was still living in anguish and pains, his flesh fell off, and by reason of the stench all the army turned with loathing from his corruption.

And the man that a little before supposed himself to touch the stars of heaven, no one could endure to carry for his intolerable stench.

{4:9} Then every man cried to God with great fervor, and they humbled their souls with great vehemence,

{4:10} and both they and their wives and their children, and their cattle, and every stranger and hired hand, and their servants bought with money, put sackcloth on their loins.

{4:11} Thus every man, and the women and little children, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, fell before the temple and cast ashes upon their heads and spread out their sackcloth before the face of the Lord; they also put sackcloth around the altar.

{4:12} And they cried to the God of Israel, all with one consent earnestly, so that he would not give over their children as prey and their wives for a spoil and the cities of their inheritance to destruction and the sanctuary to profanation and reproach, for the nations to rejoice over them.

{4:13} So God heard their prayers and looked upon their afflictions; for the people fasted many days in all Judea and Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty.

{4:14} And Joacim the high priest, and all the priests who stood before the Lord and those who ministered to the Lord, had their loins dressed with sackcloth, and offered the daily burnt offerings with the vows and free gifts of the people,

{4:15} and had ashes on their liturgical headdresses; and they cried to the Lord with all their power, so that he would look upon all the house of Israel graciously.

{21:12} A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, 'Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

{21:13} but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the prostitute, like the house of Ahab did, and also have slain your brothers of your father's house, who were better than yourself:

{21:14} behold, Yahweh will strike with a great plague your people, and your children, and your wives, and all your substance;

{21:15} and you shall have great sickness by disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.'"

{21:16} Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians who are beside the Ethiopians:

{21:17} and they came up against Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

{21:18} After all this Yahweh struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

{21:19} It happened, in process of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of severe diseases.

{4:1} Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

{4:2} There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

{4:3} Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.

{4:25} My children, suffer patiently the wrath which has come upon you from God, for your enemy has persecuted you, but shortly you shall see his destruction and shall tread upon his neck.
{4:26} My delicate ones have gone rough ways and were taken away as a flock caught by the enemies.
{4:27} Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry to God, for you shall be remembered by him who brought these things upon you.
{4:28} For as it was your mind to go astray from God, so then, being returned, seek him ten times more.
{4:29} For he who has brought these plagues upon you shall bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

{6:11} Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh. I am weary with holding in. "Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.
{6:12} Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh."
{6:13} "For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

Give not over your soul to sorrow; and afflict not yourself in your own counsel.
Gladness of heart is the life of a man; and the joyfulness of a man is length of days.
Love your own soul, and comfort your heart: and remove sorrow far from you; for sorrow has destroyed many, and there is no profit therein.
Envy and wrath shorten a man’s days; and care brings old age before the time.

Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own everlastingness;
but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.

Therefore, keep your conscience good and you will always enjoy happiness, for a good conscience can bear a great deal and can bring joy even in the midst of adversity.

Sinners never experience true interior joy or peace, for "there is no peace to the wicked," says the Lord.

For the truly patient man does not consider from whom the suffering comes, whether from a superior, an equal, or an inferior, whether from a good and holy person or from a perverse and unworthy one; but no matter how great an adversity befalls him, no matter how often it comes or from whom it comes, he accepts it gratefully from the hand of God, and counts it a great gain. For with God nothing that is suffered for His sake, no matter how small, can pass without reward.

Are you in a bad mood? Do some small good deed! Still feeling bad? Do one more good deed! Repeat until the mood improves and you feel joy.

{31:16} Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

{31:17} Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, 'Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?'

{31:18} I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have worked, in that they are turned to other gods.

{28:1} It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth: {28:2} and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. {28:3} You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. {28:4} You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. {28:5} Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. {28:6} You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. {28:7} Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. {28:8} Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and he will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. {28:9} Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you; if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. {28:10} All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yahweh; and they shall be afraid of you. {28:11} Yahweh will make you plenteous for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. {28:12} Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow. {28:13} Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if you shall listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do, {28:14} and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. {28:15} But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you. {28:16} You shall be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. {28:17} Your basket and your kneading trough shall be cursed. {28:18} The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock shall be cursed. {28:19} You shall be cursed when you come in, and you shall be cursed when you go out. {28:20} Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. {28:21} Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it. {28:22} Yahweh will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish. {28:23} Your sky that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. {28:24} Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust: from the sky shall it come down on you, until you are destroyed. {28:25} Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them: and you shall be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. {28:26} Your dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there shall be none to frighten them away. {28:27} Yahweh will strike you with the boil of Egypt, and with the tumors, and with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. {28:28} Yahweh will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart; {28:29} and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be none to save you. {28:30} You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use its fruit. {28:31} Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it: your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save you. {28:32} Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people; and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there shall be nothing in the power of your hand. {28:33} The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you don't know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always; {28:34} so that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. {28:35} Yahweh will strike you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, of which you can not be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. {28:36} Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. {28:37} You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you away. {28:38} You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. {28:39} You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine, nor harvest; for the worm shall eat them. {28:40} You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. {28:41} You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. {28:42} All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess. {28:43} The foreigner who is in the midst of you shall mount up above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower. {28:44} He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. {28:45} All these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you: {28:46} and they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever. {28:47} Because you didn't serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; {28:48} therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you. {28:49} Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand; {28:50} a nation of fierce facial expressions, that shall not respect the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, {28:51} and shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; that also shall not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. {28:52} They shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you. {28:53} You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. {28:54} The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining; {28:55} so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates. {28:56} The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, {28:57} and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates. {28:58} If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD; {28:59} then Yahweh will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses, and of long continuance. {28:60} He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cling to you. {28:61} Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you, until you are destroyed. {28:62} You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. {28:63} It shall happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it. {28:64} Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. {28:65} Among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot: but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul; {28:66} and your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. {28:67} In the morning you shall say, "I wish it were evening!" and at evening you shall say, "I wish it were morning!" for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. {28:68} Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man shall buy you.

{3:16} To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

{3:17} To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

{3:18} It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

{3:19} By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

{5:7} Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
{5:8} You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
{5:9} Don't grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
{5:10} Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
{5:11} Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

{4:1} Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
{4:2} You lust, and don't have. You kill, covet, and can't obtain. You fight and make war. You don't have, because you don't ask.
{4:3} You ask, and don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.
{4:4} You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

{12:5} and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, don't take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
{12:6} For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives."
{12:7} It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn't discipline?
{12:8} But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
{12:9} Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
{12:10} For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
{12:11} All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.

{10:34} For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
{10:35} Therefore don't throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

{6:7} For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can't carry anything out.
{6:8} But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
{6:9} But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
{6:10} For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
{6:11} But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
{6:12} Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

{81:13} Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
{81:14} I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries...

{4:11} Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
{4:12} We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
{4:13} Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

{2:13}This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.
{2:14}Yet you say, 'Why?' Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.
{2:15}Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
{2:16}For I hate divorce," says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence!" says Yahweh of Armies. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don't deal treacherously.

Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it.

Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me? says Yahweh.

Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.
But when they deliver you up, don't be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.
For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Don't tell God how big your problem is; tell your problem how big your God is!

Author unknown

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he didn't seek Yahweh, but to the physicians.

For a man's merits are not measured by many visions or consolations, or by knowledge of the Scriptures, or by his being in a higher position than others, but by the truth of his humility, by his capacity for divine charity, by his constancy in seeking purely and entirely the honor of God, by his disregard and positive contempt of self, and more, by preferring to be despised and humiliated rather than honored by others.

When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on earth.

Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.

Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace.

You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides.

If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one.

Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.

Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering.

Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification.

O death, how bitter is the remembrance of you to a man that is at peace in his possessions, To the man that has nothing to distract him, and has prosperity in all things, And that still has strength to receive meat!

O death, acceptable is your sentence to a man that is needy, and that fails in strength, That is in extreme old age, and is distracted about all things, And is perverse, and has lost patience!

I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.

Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this earth than to suffer willingly for Christ.

Don't be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won't be harmed by the second death.

{2:19} For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.
{2:20} For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.
{2:21} For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
{2:22} who did not sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth."
{2:23} Who, when he was cursed, didn't curse back. When he suffered, didn't threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;
{2:24} who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

"'What's it like,' Karla asked me once, 'cold turkey off heroin?' I tried to explain it. 'Think about every time in your life that you've ever been afraid, really afraid. Someone sneaks up behind you when you think you're alone, and shouts to frighten you. The gang of thugs closes in around you. You fall from a great height in a dream, or you stand on the very edge of a steep cliff. Someone holds you under water and you feel the breath gone, and you scramble, fight, and claw your way to the surface. You lose control of the car and see the wall rushing into your soundless shout. Then add them all up, all those chest-tightening terrors, and feel them all at once, all at the same time, hour after hour, and day after day. And think of every pain you've ever known—the burn with hot oil, the sharp sliver of glass, the broken bone, the gravel rash when you fell on the rough road in winter, the headache and the earache and the toothache. Then add them all up, all those groin-squeezing, stomach-tensing shrieks of pain, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. Then think of every anguish you've ever known. Remember the death of a loved one. Remember a lover's rejection. Recall your feelings of failure and shame and unspeakably bitter remorse. And add them all up, all the heart-stabbing griefs and miseries, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. That's cold turkey. Cold turkey off heroin is life with the skin torn away.'"

For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. The same did very wickedly:

and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion Geber.

Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works." The ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

He that takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord; And he will surely make firm his sins.

Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done you; And then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.

Upon a man like himself he has no mercy; And does he make supplication for his own sins?

Remember your last end, and cease from enmity: Remember corruption and death, and abide in the commandments.

Remember the commandments, and be not angry with your neighbor; And remember the covenant of the Highest, and wink at ignorance.

One that casts a stone on high casts it on his own head; And a deceitful stroke will open wounds.

He that digs a pit will fall into it; And he that sets a snare will be taken therein.

He that does evil things, they will roll upon him, And he will not know whence they have come to him.

Mockery and reproach are from the arrogant; And vengeance, as a lion, will lie in wait for him.

They that rejoice at the fall of the godly will be taken in a snare; And anguish will consume them before they die.

"Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, 'Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the prostitute, like the house of Ahab did, and also have slain your brothers of your father's house, who were better than yourself: behold, Yahweh will strike with a great plague your people, and your children, and your wives, and all your substance; and you shall have great sickness by disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.'"

Pray for us also to the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and until this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath has not turned from us.

Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.

Therefore the children of Israel can't stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.

{3:13} Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good?
{3:14} But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."
{3:15} But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
{3:16} having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.

For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.

For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.

but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

His seed will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

The fear of Yahweh prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

My son, don't despise Yahweh's discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:
for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

1 And it came to pass that seven kindred also with their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh. 2 But one of them made himself the spokesman and said, What would you ask and learn of us? for we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers. 3 And the king fell into a rage, and commanded to heat pans and caldrons: 4 and when these forthwith were heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had been their spokesman, and to scalp him, and to cut off his extremities, the rest of his kindred and his mother looking on. 5 And when he was utterly * maimed, the king commanded to bring him to the fire, being yet alive, and to fry him in the pan. And as the vapor of the pan spread far, they and their mother also exhorted one another to die nobly, saying thus: 6 The Lord God sees, and in truth is † entreated for us, as Moses declared in ‡ his song, which witnesses against the people to their faces, saying, And he shall be § entreated for his servants.

7 And when the first had died after this manner, they brought the second to the mocking; and they pulled off the skin of his head with the hair and asked him, Wilt you eat, before your body be punished in every limb? 8 But he answered in the language of his fathers and said to them, No. Wherefore he also underwent the next torture in succession, as the first had done. 9 And when he was at the last gasp, he said, You, miscreant, do release us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise up us, who have died for his laws, to an eternal renewal of life.

10 And after him was the third made a mocking-stock. And when he was required, he quickly put out his tongue, and stretched forth his hands courageously, 11 and nobly said, From heaven I possess these; and for his laws’ sake I contemn these; and from him I hope to receive these back again: 12 insomuch that the king himself and those who were with him were astonished at the young man’s soul, for that he nothing regarded the pains.

20 But above all was the mother marvelous and worthy of honorable memory; for when she looked on seven sons perishing within the space of one day, she bare the sight with a good courage for the hopes that she had set on the Lord. 21 And she exhorted each one of them in the language of their fathers, filled with a noble temper and stirring up her womanish thought with manly passion, saying to them, 22 I know not how you⌃ came into my womb, neither was it I that bestowed on you your †† spirit and your life, and it was not I that brought into order the first elements of each one of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who fashioned the ‡‡ generation of man and devised the §§generation of all things, in mercy gives back to you again both your *** spirit and your life, as you⌃ now contemn your own selves for his laws’ sake. 24 But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive did not only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and ††† raise him to high estate, if he would turn from the customs of his fathers, and that he would take him for his ‡‡‡ Friend and intrust him with affairs. 25 But when the young man would in no wise give heed, the king called to him his mother, and exhorted her that she would counsel the lad to save himself. 26 And when he had exhorted her with many words, she undertook to persuade her son. 27 But bending toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, she spoke thus in the language of her fathers: My son, have pity upon me that carried you nine months in my womb, and gave you suck three years, and nourished and brought you up to this age, and sustained you. 28 I beseech you, my child, to lift your eyes to the heaven and the earth, and to see all things that are therein, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were, andthat the race of men in this wise comes into being. 29 Don’t be afraid of this butcher, but, proving yourself worthy of your kindred, accept your death, that in the mercy of God I may receive you again with your kindred.

30 But before she had yet ended speaking, the young man said, Whom wait you⌃ for? I obey not the commandment of the king, but I listen to the commandment of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. 31 But you, that have devised all manner of evil against the Hebrews, shall in no wise escape the hands of God. 32 For we are suffering because of our own sins; 33 and if for rebuke and chastening our living Lord has been angered a little while, yet shall he again be reconciled with his own servants. 34 But you, O unholy man and of all most vile, be not vainly lifted up in your wild pride with uncertain hopes, raising your hand against the heavenly children; 35 For not yet have you escaped the judgement of the Almighty God that sees all things. 36 For these our kindred, having endured a §§§ short pain that brings everlasting life, have now * died under God’s covenant; But you, through the judgement of God, shall receive in just measure the penalties of your arrogancy. 37 But I, as my kindred, give up both body and soul for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become† gracious to the nation; and that you amidst trials and plagues may confess that he alone is God; 38 and that in me and my kindred ‡ you may stay the wrath of the Almighty, which has been justly brought upon our whole race. 39 But the king, falling into a rage, handled him worse than all the rest, being exasperated at his mocking. 40 So he also died pure from pollution, putting his whole trust in the Lord.