Matthew 23:4

23:4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.

Genesis 3:17-19

3:17 But to Adam he said,

“Because you obeyed your wife

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground thanks to you;

in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

but you will eat the grain of the field.

3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food

until you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

Job 5:7

5:7 but people are born to trouble,

as surely as the sparks fly upward.

Job 14:1

The Brevity of Life

14:1 “Man, born of woman,

lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble.

Psalms 32:4

32:4 For day and night you tormented me;

you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer. (Selah)

Psalms 38:4

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me;

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Psalms 90:7-10

90:7 Yes, we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins;

you even know about our hidden sins.

90:9 Yes, throughout all our days we experience your raging fury;

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh.

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years,

or eighty, if one is especially strong.

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression.

Yes, they pass quickly and we fly away.

Ecclesiastes 1:8

1:8 All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it:

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing.

Ecclesiastes 1:14

1:14 I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth,

and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile – like chasing the wind!

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

Painful Days and Restless Nights

2:22 What does a man acquire from all his labor

and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth?

2:23 For all day long his work produces pain and frustration,

and even at night his mind cannot relax!

This also is futile!

Ecclesiastes 4:8

4:8 A man who is all alone with no companion,

he has no children nor siblings;

yet there is no end to all his toil,

and he is never satisfied with riches.

He laments, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?”

This also is futile and a burdensome task!

Isaiah 1:4

1:4 The sinful nation is as good as dead,

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel.

They are alienated from him.

Isaiah 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them;

that is how they came to be,” says the Lord.

I show special favor to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say.

Micah 6:6-8

6:6 With what should I enter the Lord’s presence?

With what should I bow before the sovereign God?

Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,

with year-old calves?

6:7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams,

or ten thousand streams of olive oil?

Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,

my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin?

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you:

He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful,

and to live obediently before your God.

Acts 15:10

15:10 So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

Romans 7:22-25

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.