Life

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Miscellany of Minor Sub-topics

Breath of

• Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Called SPIRIT OF GOD

• Job 27:3 as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,

Tree of

• Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”
• Genesis 3:24 So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.
• Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
• Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
• Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.

(SACREDNESS OF, an inference from what is taught in the law concerning murder)

See Homicide

Long life promised to obedient children

• Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
• Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

To those who keep the commandments

• Deuteronomy 4:40 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
• Deuteronomy 22:7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

Vanity of

• Ecclesiastes 1 These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!” What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains f… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile. I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly— my mind still guiding me with wisdom— until I could s… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 3 To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 4 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter. So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 6 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction. A man… (whole chapter)
• Ecclesiastes 7 A good name is better than fine perfume, and one’s day of death is better than his day of birth. It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance i… (whole chapter)

Hated

• Ecclesiastes 2:17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

To be hated for Christ's sake

• Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be My disciple.

What can a man give in exchange for

• Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• Mark 8:37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

The one who loses it will save it

• Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
• Matthew 16:25–26 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
• John 12:25 Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Weary of

Job

• Job 3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And this is what he said: “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above disregard it; may no light shine upon it. May darkness and gloom recla… (whole chapter)
• Job 7:1–3 “Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand? Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages. So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me.
• Job 10:18–20 Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me! If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave. Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,

Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 20:14–18 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy. May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning an…

Elijah

• 1 Kings 19:1–8 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!” And E…

Jonah

• Jonah 4:8–9 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enoug…

See Suicide

Life of Christ, a ransom

• Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
• Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
• 1 Timothy 2:6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all — the testimony that was given at just the right time.

See SPIRITUAL, below

Brevity and Uncertainty of

• Genesis 18:27 Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord— though I am but dust and ashes—
• Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
• 1 Samuel 20:3 But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
• 2 Samuel 14:14 For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
• 1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
• Job 4:19–21 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth! They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever. Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’’’
• Job 7:6–10 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness. The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more. As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes d…
• Job 7:17 What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,
• Job 8:9 For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
• Job 9:25–26 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good. They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

See Death

Everlasting

• Psalm 21:4 He asked You for life, and You granted it— length of days, forever and ever.
• Psalm 121:8 The LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.
• Psalm 133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing of life forevermore.
• Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.
• Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
• Matthew 19:16–21 Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?” “Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not…
• Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
• Matthew 25:46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
• Mark 10:30 will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life.
• Luke 18:18 Then a certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

See Immortality

From God

• Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
• Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
• Deuteronomy 30:20 and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
• Deuteronomy 32:39–40 See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand. For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
• 1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
• Job 27:3 as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,
• Job 34:14–15 If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath, all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.
• Psalm 22:29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him— even those unable to preserve their lives.
• Psalm 30:3 O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.
• Psalm 68:20 Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.

Long

See Longevity

Spiritual

• John 3:3–16 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God un…
• John 5:24–26 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life. Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and thos…
• John 5:40 yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
• John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
• John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
• John 6:35 Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.
• John 6:40 For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• John 6:47 Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.
• John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.
• John 11:25–26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”