The ability to appreciate another's condition, especially through shared experience of pain or suffering. God sympathises with his people in their sufferings, as does Jesus Christ as the sympathetic high priest.
God sympathises with his people
Psalm 10:14; 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 See also Exodus 22:26–27; Deuteronomy 10:18; Judges 2:18; Psalm 9:9, Psalm 91:15; Isaiah 40:1–2, Isaiah 66:13; Jeremiah 8:18; 2 Corinthians 7:6
But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
God's apparent lack of sympathy may be evidence of judgment
Jeremiah 16:5–6 See also Isaiah 27:11, Isaiah 63:15
Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD. “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
Jesus Christ sympathises with those in distress
John 11:35; Hebrews 4:15 See also Matthew 9:36; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:34; Hebrews 2:14–18
Jesus wept.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
Sympathy as a characteristic of friendship
1 Samuel 20:34; Job 2:11 See also Judges 11:37; 1 Samuel 20:41; 2 Samuel 10:2–3 parallel 1 Chronicles 19:2–3; Job 16:4–5, Job 19:21, Job 29:16, Job 30:25; Ecclesiastes 4:10; Daniel 1:9; John 11:18–19
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.
Now when Job’s three friends— Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite— heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.
Sympathy expected from God's people
Exodus 23:9; Romans 12:15; 1 Peter 3:8 See also Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 19:33–34; Deuteronomy 10:19; Isaiah 58:6–7; 2 Corinthians 1:4–7, 2 Corinthians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 11:29; Philippians 1:7, Philippians 2:1, Philippians 4:14; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:11–12; 1 Timothy 5:9–10; Hebrews 10:34, Hebrews 13:3
Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
The absence of sympathy
Psalm 69:20 See also Deuteronomy 15:7; Job 6:14–18; Psalm 31:11–12, Psalm 38:11, Psalm 41:9; Jeremiah 20:10; Lamentations 1:16; Obadiah 1:12; Matthew 18:33
Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.