Bible Verses About Afflictions and Adversities

And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.

And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand.

And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

And again: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.

And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily, here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth me.

And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed.

So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.

And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.

And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off, as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.

And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.

Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.

And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.

And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.

And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there:

And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father, Abraham, had digged, and which, after his death, the Philistines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names, by which his father before had called them.

And they digged in the torrent, and found living water:

But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.

And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.

Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not; therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.

And he went up from that place to Bersabee,

Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father, do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.