Verse 20

For the creation was subjected to futility– not willingly but because of God who subjected it– in hope

Referenced Verses

  • Gen 3:17-19 : 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,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field. 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.”
  • Gen 5:29 : 29 He named him Noah, saying,“This one will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the LORD has cursed.”
  • Gen 6:13 : 13 So God said to Noah,“I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.
  • Job 12:6-9 : 6 But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident– who carry their god in their hands. 7 Knowledge of God’s Wisdom“But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, 10 in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race.
  • Eccl 1:2 : 2 Introduction: Utter Futility“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher,“Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”
  • Isa 24:5-6 : 5 The earth is defiled by its inhabitants, for they have violated laws, disregarded the regulation, and broken the permanent treaty. 6 So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.
  • Jer 12:4 : 4 How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast,“God will not see what happens to us.”
  • Jer 12:11 : 11 They will lay it waste. It will lie parched and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed.
  • Jer 14:5-6 : 5 Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn in the field because there is no grass. 6 Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.”
  • Hos 4:3 : 3 Therefore the land will mourn, and all its inhabitants will perish. The wild animals, the birds of the sky, and even the fish in the sea will perish.
  • Joel 1:18 : 18 Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
  • Rom 8:22 : 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.