Loneliness

Across the canon

In the King James text (377 verses)

Every verse where Scripture speaks of loneliness, gathered by word. Quoted below: a spread across the whole canon, Old Testament and New — never more than two from any one book. The complete list is one click beneath them.The word "loneliness" is not in the King James Bible; the text speaks of being alone, forsaken, and solitary.

1. Genesis 2:18

   And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 2:182 voices

   “Still another question arises, that concerning the saying of the Lord: 'It is not good for man to be alone.' [ Gen 2:18 ] Recognize the fact, first of all, that, when God created man from the slime of the earth, He did not add: 'God saw that it was good,' [ Gen 1:14 ] as He did in the case of each of His works.

   “It is not good that the man should be alone - לבדו lebaddo; only himself. I will make him a help meet for him; עזר כנגדו ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 2:18→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Joshua 1:5

   There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

   Verse page →Original language →

3. 1 Chronicles 28:9

   And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

   ›Commentary on 1 Chronicles 28:92 voices

   “Searcheth - If thou dost only put on a profession of religion to please me, or if thy obedience to God be unsincere, thou mayest indeed deceive me, but thou canst not deceive him, for he searcheth the motions of thy heart. Cast thee off - Notwithstanding all his promises to me and to my seed, and that great honour and favour which he hath shewed thee.

   "Do you know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy." And in another place: "The Lord is with you as long as you are with him. If you abandon him, he also will abandon you."

   Everything gathered on 1 Chronicles 28:9→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Job 1:15

   And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

   ›Commentary on Job 1:151 voice

   “And the Sabeans - Hebrew שׁבא shebâ', Vulgate, “Suboei.” The Septuagint gives a paraphrase, καὶ ἐλθόντες οἱ αἰχμαλωτεύοντες ἠχμαλώτευσαν kai elthonia hoi aichmalōteuontes ēchmalōteusan, “And the plunderers coming, plundered them,” or made them captive. On the situation of Sheba and Seba, see Isa 43:3, note; Isa 45:14, note; Isa 9:6, note. The people here referred to were, undoubtedly, inhabitants of some part of Arabia Felix. There are three persons of the name of Sheba mentioned in the Scriptures. (1) A grandson of Cush; Gen 10:7. (2) A son of Joktan; Gen 10:

   Everything gathered on Job 1:15→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Jeremiah 1:16

   And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 1:162 voices

   “He emphasizes the justice of what has been done by adding, "I shall pronounce my judgment against them because of all their wickedness in forsaking me. They sacrificed to foreign gods and worshiped the works of their hands." What could be more foolish than this …

   “And I will utter my judgments against them,.... Not against the kingdoms of the north, but against the people of the Jews. The sense is, that God would enter into judgment with this people, and pass sentence upon them, and execute it: touching all their wickedness; or on account of all their sins and transgressions hereafter mentioned: who have forsaken me.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 1:16→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Amos 5:2

   The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

   ›Commentary on Amos 5:21 voice

   “The virgin of Israel - The kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, which were carried into captivity; and are now totally lost in the nations of the earth.

   Everything gathered on Amos 5:2→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Malachi 1:4

   Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.

   ›Commentary on Malachi 1:41 voice

   “They shall build, but I will throw down - We have already seen enough of the wickedness of the Edomites to justify the utmost severity of Divine justice against them. The pulling down predicted here was by Judas Maccabeus; see 1 Maccabees 5:65; and by John Hyrcanus; see Joseph Antiq., lib. 13 c. 9. s. 1. They shall call them, The border of wickedness - A wicked land. Among this people scarcely any trace of good could ever be noted.

   Everything gathered on Malachi 1:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Matthew 4:4

   But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

   ›Commentary on Matthew 4:42 voices

   “It is written - Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil. By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God - That is, by whatever God commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will.

   “(in Luc. c. iv. 3.) He begins with that which had once been the means of his victory, the palate; If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves. What means such a beginning as this, but that he knew that the Son of God was to come, yet believed not that He was come on account of His fleshly infirmity. His speech is in part that of an enquirer, in part that of a tempter; he professes to believe Him God, he strives to deceive Him as man.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 4:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Acts 1:20

   For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.

   ›Commentary on Acts 1:202 voices

   “Not only does the saying hold true in the time of Judas, but even today. If Judas lost his office of apostle, let priest and bishop be on guard lest they, too, lose their ministry. If an apostle fell, more easily is it possible for a monk to fall. Virtue is not lost, even though man falls and perishes. The Lord continues to lend out his money at interest; if anyone who receives it does not double it, it is taken away and given to another who already has some. The Lord's money cannot lie idle.

   “For it is written in the book of Psalms,.... In Psa 69:25. These are the words of Peter, citing the Scripture he had said must be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by David, had spoke concerning Judas: let his habitation be desolate. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions render it, "his city"; meaning, perhaps, the city of Jerusalem; and which afterwards did become desolate, and was utterly destroyed: and let no man dwell therein; in his habitation.

   Everything gathered on Acts 1:20→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Galatians 4:27

    For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

    ›Commentary on Galatians 4:272 voices

    “Wherefore the Church beareth much fruit of the redeemed: because no longer Moses (as) mediator nor Elijah (as) messenger, but the Lord Himself has redeemed us, granting many more children to the Church than to the first Synagogue; as Isaiah declared, saying: "Rejoice thou barren, that didst not bear." The barren is the Church, which never at all in former times presented sons to God. "Cry out and call, thou that didst not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her which hath an husband." Now the first Synagogue had as husband the Law.

    “For it is written,.... Isa 44:1, which is cited to prove, that the heavenly Jerusalem, or Gospel church state, is the mother of us all, and has brought forth, and still will bring forth, many souls to Christ, even many more than were under the legal dispensation by the Jewish church, though the Lord was an husband to them, Jer 31:

    Everything gathered on Galatians 4:27→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Hebrews 9:7

    But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Revelation 17:16

    And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

    ›Commentary on Revelation 17:161 voice

    "And the beast which thou sawest is of the seven." Since before those kings Nero reigned. "And he is the eighth." He says only when this beast shall come, reckon it the eighth place, since in that is the completion. He added:- "And shall go into perdition." For that ten kings received royal power when he shall move from the east, he says. He shall be sent from the city of Rome with his armies. And Daniel sets forth the ten horns and the ten diadems.

    Everything gathered on Revelation 17:16→

    Verse page →Original language →

Words searched, at word start, across the King James text: alone… · forsak… · solitary… · desolate…

Lives that met it (4)

Curated character profiles whose own account speaks of loneliness.

• ElijahTishbite Prophet · Divided Monarchy (North)Elijah the Tishbite was the prophetic voice against the Baal worship that Ahab and Jezebel established in the northern kingdom (c. 874-853 BC). His contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, the fire he called down, his departure in a chariot of fire, and his appearance with Moses at the Transfiguration make him the prophetic pattern beside Moses.
• GideonMighty Warrior · JudgesGideon was a reluctant judge who defeated Midian with only 300 men, demonstrating that victory comes from God alone, not from human strength.
• Philip the EvangelistDeacon and Evangelist to Samaria · New TestamentPhilip the Evangelist, one of the seven chosen to serve the early church, carried the gospel to Samaria with great effect and led the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ on a desert road, becoming a bridge figure in the gospel's spread beyond Jerusalem.
• IsaiahProphet · Divided MonarchyIsaiah of Jerusalem prophesied through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (c. 740-680 BC). Called in a vision of the throne in the year King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6), he left the longest prophetic book in the Old Testament and its fullest messianic prophecies: Immanuel, the Prince of Peace, the Suffering Servant, the new heavens and new earth.