18 Bible Verses about Cynicism

They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!” Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers.”

After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. He said: May the day I was born perish,
and the night when they said,
“A boy is conceived.”
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If only that day had turned to darkness!
May God above not care about it,
or light shine on it.

Why is light given to one burdened with grief,
and life to those whose existence is bitter,
who wait for death, but it does not come,
and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

then You frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,
so that I prefer strangling—
death rather than life in this body.
I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

“Why did You bring me out of the womb?
I should have died and never been seen.
I wish I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

Woe is me, my mother,
that you gave birth to me,
a man who incites dispute and conflict
in all the land.
I did not lend or borrow,
yet everyone curses me.

May the day I was born
be cursed.
May the day my mother bore me
never be blessed.
May the man be cursed
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A male child is born to you,”
bringing him great joy.
Let that man be like the cities
the Lord demolished without compassion.
Let him hear an outcry in the morning
and a war cry at noontime
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because he didn’t kill me in the womb
so that my mother might have been my grave,
her womb eternally pregnant.
Why did I come out of the womb
to see only struggle and sorrow,
to end my life in shame?

And now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down so much on Jonah’s head that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”

If I fought wild animals in Ephesus with only human hope, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.

So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied:

I am young in years,
while you are old;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to tell you what I know.
I thought that age should speak
and maturity should teach wisdom.
But it is a spirit in man
and the breath of the Almighty
that give him understanding.
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It is not only the old who are wise
or the elderly who understand how to judge.

Like snow in summer and rain at harvest,
honor is inappropriate for a fool.
Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow,
an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools.
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Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness
or you’ll be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his foolishness
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.
The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand
cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp.
Giving honor to a fool
is like binding a stone in a sling.
A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a stick with thorns,
brandished by the hand of a drunkard.
The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by
is like an archer who wounds everyone.
As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his foolishness.

Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.

They watched closely and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so they could catch Him in what He said, to hand Him over to the governor’s rule and authority. They questioned Him, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You don’t show partiality, but teach truthfully the way of God. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” read more.
But detecting their craftiness, He said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”

“Caesar’s,” they said. “Well then,” He told them, “give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” They were not able to catch Him in what He said in public, and being amazed at His answer, they became silent.