10 Key Bible Verses on Grief

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Read More

Blessed be. This is a standard Jewish praise formula that introduces the tone and themes to come. Paul begins by identifying the one whom he extols as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. These titles describe Yahweh’s relationship to Jesus and Jesus’ relationship to his people (“Lord” designates his absolute rule over his people). Comfort is the overall disposition that comes from resting in God’s sovereign and loving rule as manifested in Christ’s lordship (cf. Isa. 40:1).

so that we may be able to comfort. One of God’s purposes in the suffering of Christians is that they would experience direct, personal comfort from God, and then from that experience be able to minister God’s comfort to others. us . . . our. Affliction can refer to both outward circumstances (2 Cor. 4:17; 2 Cor. 6:4; 2 Cor. 8:2) and inward states of mind (2 Cor. 2:4; 2 Cor. 7:4–5).

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2. Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Read More

those who mourn. The spiritual, emotional, or financial loss resulting from sin should lead to mourning and a longing for God’s forgiveness and healing (cf. 2 Cor. 7:10).

3. Isaiah 53:3–4

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. Read More

See Isa. 49:7; cf. John 1:10–11. Rejection of the servant reveals how misguided the human mind is. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus experienced sorrow and grief of various sorts throughout his whole life. “Acquainted with” could also be rendered “knowing.”

Surely introduces the truth about the servant’s sufferings. Acting as his people’s substitute, with no support or understanding from them, the servant took upon himself the bitter consequences of their sin: griefs, sorrows (cf. Matt. 8:14–17). The sufferings of the servant would show the consequences that sin brings to fallen humanity, though he himself would not sin (Isa. 53:9). smitten by God, and afflicted. God would be the ultimate source of the sufferings of this faithful servant.

4. John 11:34–35

And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Read More

Jesus wept. Jesus joins his friends’ sadness with heartfelt sorrow, yet underlying it is the knowledge that resurrection and joy will soon follow (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13). Jesus’ example shows that heartfelt mourning in the face of death does not indicate lack of faith but honest sorrow at the reality of suffering and death.

5. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Read More

we do not want you to be uninformed. The Thessalonians are unaware of the things Paul will explain in 1 Thess. 4: 14–17. those who are asleep. Paul refers to Christians who have died as being “asleep” (1 Thess. 4:14, 15; 1 Thess. 5:10; also 1 Cor. 15:6, 1 Cor. 15:18, 1 Cor. 15:20, 1 Cor. 15:51), which reinforces his main point that they will awake from the grave at the second coming. The metaphor is not intended to deny that the dead are in conscious fellowship with God in the intermediate state. Referring to death with the metaphor of sleep is simply suggested by the physical condition of those who sleep. It gains appropriateness from the fact that all who have died will rise at Christ’s return. grieve as others do who have no hope. Grieving per se is not wrong (cf. Acts 8:2), but it is wrong to grieve in a hopeless manner like unbelievers. The Thessalonians apparently did not understand that deceased Christians would rise from the dead and thus would not miss out on the blessings brought by the second coming. Epitaphs from the first century indicate that most first-century Greeks had a strongly pessimistic view of death.

rose again. The resurrection of Christ is the center of God’s plan for history and is the basis for hope in the future resurrection of the body (1 Cor. 15:42–57; Rev. 21:4). through Jesus, God will bring. Jesus is shown to be God’s mediator of salvation who will “bring” deceased Christians with him (those who have fallen asleep), that is, the souls of those who have been in heaven with Christ up to this point. The direction of movement (whether upward or downward) is debated, although the allusion to Zech. 14:5 suggests a picture of Christ coming down from heaven, bringing with him the souls of those who have already died. Paul’s point is that all the Christians who have died (“fallen asleep”) will be with Christ in his second coming, as Christ descends to earth. Paul then explains in more detail (in 1 Thess. 4:16–17) how the dead are able to be present with Christ—that is, because their bodies will, at that moment, be resurrected and reunited with their souls, as they are “caught up to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17).

6. Psalm 34:16–18

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit. Read More

The Lord Cares for Those Who Trust Him. The final section speaks generally about how the Lord cares for his faithful ones—i.e., it does not recount specific instances as vv. 4–7 do. There is also a stress here on the difference between the way God treats the faithful and the wicked. The Hebrew expressions brokenhearted and crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18) refer to the pride and stubbornness in one’s heart being humbled (Ps. 51:17; Ps. 69:20; Ps. 147:3). The psalm is clear that both the righteous and the wicked will have afflictions (see the repetition in Ps. 34:19, 21); the difference is in the outcomes (none . . . condemned, Ps. 34:22; and condemned, Ps. 34: 21). It is possible that John 19:36 has combined Ps. 34:20 (he keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken) with Ex. 12:46 to emphasize that Jesus was not only the Passover Lamb but also a righteous sufferer whom God would vindicate.

7. 2 Corinthians 7:9–11

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. Read More

Paul was comforted by Titus’s coming because Titus reported that the Corinthians had fully repented and had turned back to Paul, and therefore back to the gospel. Hence, the grief Paul had inflicted on them was worth it, for it produced repentance.

godly grief. Grief that comes from God is characterized by repentance, i.e., remorse caused by having lost God’s approval and the consequent resolve to reverse one’s conduct and live for God (2 Cor. 5:6–10, 15). worldly grief. Grief that comes from the world, i.e., a remorse brought about by losing the world’s approval, leads to a resolve to regain that approval, and this produces death, or divine judgment.

8. Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. Read More

The shadow of death may be the shadow that death casts, or it may be, as the ESV footnote has it, “deep darkness.” Perhaps the idea is that in a valley in the desert (or wadi) in Judah one can encounter deep shadows, and cannot know for sure who (bandits) or what (animals, flash floods) lurks in them; even in such periods of suspense and danger, the faithful find assurance that God is with them, and thus they need not fear.

9. John 16:22–23

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Read More

In that day (that is, after Jesus’ resurrection) you will ask nothing of me probably means that Jesus’ disciples will not have to ask him questions about the meaning of his death and resurrection, because they will understand and because the Holy Spirit will be present to guide them “into all the truth” (John 16:13).

10. Revelation 21:4

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Read More

By wiping away every tear and eliminating death, mourning, and pain (Isa. 25:8; Isa. 65:19–20), God will reverse the curse that entered the world through human sin.