The Angel of the Lord continued, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears), Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).

Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him 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.

He named the second [son] Ephraim (fruitfulness), for “God has caused me to be fruitful and very successful in the land of my suffering.”

The Lord said, “I have in fact seen the affliction (suffering, desolation) of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters (oppressors); for I know their pain and suffering.

So I said I will bring you up out of the suffering and oppression of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the Israelites and that He had looked [with compassion] on their suffering, then they bowed their heads and worshiped [the Lord].

No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Your sons shall be wanderers and shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness (spiritual infidelity), until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness.

According to the number of days in which you spied out the land [of Canaan], forty days, for each day, you shall bear and suffer a year for your sins and guilt, for forty years, and you shall know My displeasure [the revoking of My promise and My estrangement because of your sin].

Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers for help, and He heard our voice and saw our suffering and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;

and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror [suffered by the Egyptians] and with signs and with wonders;

She made a vow, saying, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction (suffering) of Your maidservant and remember, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life; a razor shall never touch his head.”

Everyone who was suffering hardship, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. There were about four hundred men with him.

David Marries Abigail

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach [suffered] at the hand of Nabal and has kept His servant from [retaliating with] evil. For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, proposing to take her as his wife.

Let the guilt fall on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house (family); and may there never disappear from the house of Joab one who suffers with a discharge or one who is a leper or one who walks with a crutch [being unfit for war], or one who falls by the sword, or one who lacks food.”

Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth to your own fields, for you certainly deserve to die; but I will not put you to death this day, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and you suffered everything that my father endured.”

For the Lord saw the affliction (suffering) of Israel as very bitter; there was no one left, bond or free, nor any helper for Israel.

then whatever prayer or request is made by any man or all of Your people Israel, each knowing his own suffering and his own pain, and stretching out his hands toward this house,

In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, for great suffering came on all the inhabitants of the lands.

and you will suffer a severe illness, an intestinal disease, until your intestines come out because of the sickness, day after day.’”

“Therefore You handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them. But when they cried out to You in the time of their suffering and distress, You heard them from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them people to rescue them. Who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

Eliphaz: Innocent Do Not Suffer

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

“Behold, how happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise or reject the discipline of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering].

So am I allotted months of futility and suffering, And [long] nights of trouble and misery are appointed to me.

Withdraw Your hand from me and remove this bodily suffering, And let not the dread of You terrify me.

“For You write bitter things against me [in Your indictment] And make me inherit and suffer for the iniquities of my youth.

“[But instead] I could strengthen and encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, And the consolation and solace of my lips would soothe your suffering and lessen your anguish.

“In the fullness of his excess (great abundance) he will be in trouble; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him [he is miserable on every side].

Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand [in judgment]; Do not forget the suffering.

The sorrows [pain and suffering] of those who have chosen another god will be multiplied [because of their idolatry]; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.

You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh [at our suffering] among themselves.

I was afflicted and close to death from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.

Make us glad in proportion to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have suffered evil.

Because of the sound of my groaning [in suffering and trouble] My bones cling to my flesh.

Because the man did not remember to show kindness, But persecuted the suffering and needy man, And the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

For I am suffering and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.

“The [enemies, like] plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows [of suffering] long [in Israel].”

He who puts up security and guarantees a debt for an outsider will surely suffer [for his foolishness], But he who hates (declines) being a guarantor is secure [from its penalties].

He who profits unlawfully brings suffering to his own house, But he who hates bribes [and does not receive nor pay them] will live.

Laziness casts one into a deep sleep [unmindful of lost opportunity], And the idle person will suffer hunger.

A prudent and far-sighted person sees the evil [of sin] and hides himself [from it], But the naive continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].

Thorns and snares are in the way of the obstinate [for their lack of honor and their wrong-doing traps them]; He who guards himself [with godly wisdom] will be far from them and avoid the consequences they suffer.

A prudent man sees evil and hides himself and avoids it, But the naive [who are easily misled] continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].

Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned [under the curse of God’s wrath], and few people are left.

“The foot will trample it, Even the feet of the suffering, and the steps of the helpless.”

“A broken reed He will not break [off] And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering]; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

The Suffering Servant

Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]? And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed?

Yet the Lord was willing To crush Him, causing Him to suffer; If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, I will refine them [through suffering] and test them; For how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?

“Woe to me because of my [spiritual] brokenness!” [says Jeremiah, speaking for the nation.] “My wound is incurable.” But I said, “Surely this sickness and suffering and grief are mine, And I must bear it.”

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear [to listen to Me], but everyone walked in the stubborn way of his [own] evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all [the suffering threatened in] the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”

Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold I am bringing disaster and suffering on them which they will not be able to escape; though they cry to Me, I will not listen to them.

They entered and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do. Therefore You have caused all this disaster and suffering to come upon them.

The roads to Zion are in mourning Because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests are groaning, Her virgins are grieved and suffering, And she suffers bitterly.

Thus your lewdness will be repaid to you, and you will suffer the penalty for your [sinful] idolatry; and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord God.’”

I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not suffer again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Therefore the land [continually] mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes [in tragic suffering] Together with the animals of the open country and the birds of the heavens; Even the fish of the sea disappear.

Ephraim is joined to idols, So let him alone [to suffer the consequences].

How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered and wander aimlessly Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

“Behold, at that time I am going to deal With all your oppressors; I will save the lame And gather the scattered, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In every land [where they have suffered].

I asked, “What are these [horns and craftsmen] coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns (powers) that have scattered Judah so that no man raised up his head [because of the suffering inflicted by the Gentile nations]. But these craftsmen have come to terrify them and make them panic, and throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”

For the teraphim (household idols) speak wickedness (emptiness, worthlessness), And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted and suffer because there is no shepherd.