--- title: "Who in the Bible Was Lonely: Jeremiah, Joseph, Job, Anna, the People Put Outside the Camp, and Jesus" description: "People in Scripture who were alone, grouped by where it came from, with a prayer to read beside them." url: "https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-was-lonely" lang: "en" published: "2026-08-07" modified: "2026-08-07" author: "Cal Hewitt" tags: ["loneliness","jeremiah","joseph","job","anna","psalm 25"] image: "https://biblenudge.com/og/blog-who-in-the-bible-was-lonely.jpg" alternates: es: "https://biblenudge.com/es/blog/personajes-de-la-biblia-que-vivieron-la-soledad.md" --- # Who in the Bible Was Lonely: Jeremiah, Joseph, Job, Anna, the People Put Outside the Camp, and Jesus [Cal Hewitt](https://biblenudge.com/about/cal-hewitt)Published August 7, 2026 - loneliness - jeremiah - joseph - job - anna - psalm 25 ![Who in the Bible Was Lonely: Jeremiah, Joseph, Job, Anna, the People Put Outside the Camp, and Jesus](https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-was-lonely/featured.jpg) One man wrote on Reddit's r/Christianity, ["I know that God is always with me, the bible says that very clearly, but I still feel alone, very alone."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/cb37jq) Someone on Reddit's r/OpenChristian asked, ["Was Jesus Christ lonely?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenChristian/comments/1jp0gqf) Below, people in Scripture who were alone are grouped by where it came from: speaking up, being sent far from home, being deserted by the people closest, being put outside, being widowed, and Jesus, so you can go to the one nearest your own. [What the Bible says about loneliness](https://biblenudge.com/blog/what-does-the-bible-say-about-loneliness) reads Elijah in the cave and Paul in prison. The [Campaign to End Loneliness](https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/), a UK charity, calls loneliness "a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship," which is how it can be felt in a full church. ## Where to start tonight ### A prayer beside it [Psalm 25:16-17](https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-25-16-17), "Turn to me, and have mercy on me." ### If you want to die Reach a person tonight. The lines, by country, are below. ## A prayer to read beside any of them Bible Nudge's passage for loneliness is from Psalm 25, where David describes his own state and asks God to look at him. Just before it come "His soul shall dwell at ease," "The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him," and "My eyes are ever on Yahweh, for he will pluck my feet out of the net." Then: > Turn to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh bring me out of my distresses. The Hebrew behind "desolate" is *yachid*, which [Brown-Driver-Briggs](https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3173.htm) gives as "only, only one, solitary." The psalm gives you plain words for being alone, said to God in the first person. Read [Psalm 25:16-17](https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-25-16-17) aloud, and stay with one question: if you could ask for one thing to be noticed today, what would it be? [Bible verses for loneliness and sadness](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-loneliness-and-sadness) reads them closely. ## Alone for what they said Jeremiah says, "I sat alone because of your hand" (15:17). He is told, "You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place," and to enter neither the house of mourning nor the house of feasting (16:1-9). Thrown into a muddy dungeon, he is pulled up when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian speaks to the king, takes thirty men, and lowers "rags and worn-out garments" to go under his arms (38:1-13). [Matthew Henry](https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Jer.15.1-Jer.15.21), Reformed, reads 15:17 as the grief of his calling; Jewish commentators at [Sefaria](https://www.sefaria.org/Jeremiah.15.17?lang=bi) place his withdrawal in the coming ruin of the city. His story is for the one saying the unwelcome thing, at work, at church or at home. ![A microphone on a stand at the front of an empty stage under a single overhead light](https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-was-lonely/the-microphone.jpg) Jeremiah also cursed the day he was born: "Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" (20:18). The Bible keeps these words. If you feel the same tonight, please reach a person: [988](https://988lifeline.org/) in the United States, [9-8-8](https://988.ca/) in Canada, [Samaritans](https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/) on 116 123 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, [Lifeline](https://www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-chat/) on 13 11 14 in Australia, and [Find A Helpline](https://findahelpline.com/) for everywhere else. Micaiah tells King Ahab what he does not want to hear and is sent to prison (1 Kings 22). John is on Patmos "because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9). Paul writes that "all who are in Asia turned away from me," and that Onesiphorus "was not ashamed of my chain" (2 Timothy 1:15-16). A newer Christian wrote on Reddit's r/Christianity, ["I’ve already lost contact with a few of my friends and family for being open about my faith."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1kgr2ug/why_is_being_a_christian_so_lonely/) ## Far from home Joseph's brothers strip him, throw him into a pit and sell him. In prison he asks the cupbearer, "remember me when it will be well with you," adding, "here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." The cupbearer "forgot him," and the next words are "At the end of two full years" (Genesis 40:14-41:1). Years later he weeps over his brothers three times, the last aloud before them all, and the story ends in reunion (42:24; 43:30; 45:2). Rashi and Genesis Rabbah comment at [Sefaria](https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.40?lang=bi), and the [Orthodox Church](https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/) remembers "Joseph the All-Comely" on Holy Monday. Moses, a fugitive in Midian, names his son Gershom, "for he said, ‘I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land’" (Exodus 2:22). Ruth asks Boaz why he should notice her, "since I am a foreigner," and then says, "you have comforted me" (Ruth 2:10-13). Mephibosheth, lame in both feet, lives in Lo Debar until David asks after him, then eats "continually at the king’s table" (2 Samuel 9). Another person wrote on Reddit's r/Christianity, ["I just recently moved and don't have a church to attend."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/19duqp3) [Bible verses for moving to a new place](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-moving-to-a-new-place) is written for it. ## Deserted by the people closest In one speech Job names them all: "He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me." It moves through relatives, servants, his wife and children, and ends, in the King James wording, "All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me" (Job 19:13-19). [Matthew Henry](https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Job.19.1-Job.19.29) and the Catholic [Haydock commentary](https://biblehub.com/commentaries/haydock/job/19.htm) both read the list as part of his affliction. A psalmist says, "My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague" (38:11). If friends drifted when you became ill or things went wrong, these are yours; [Bible verses for estranged family](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-estranged-family) reads Psalm 69:8. ## Put outside, by illness or by others The law says the person with the skin disease cries "Unclean! Unclean!" and "shall dwell alone" outside the camp (Leviticus 13:45-46). Commentators, many gathered at [Sefaria](https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.13?lang=bi), give differing reasons: ritual purity, protecting the community, examination by the priest; the verses state the rule alone. In Luke ten men "stood at a distance," called out, and were cleansed on the way (17:12-14). In Mark one man kneels and says, "If you want to, you can make me clean," and Jesus, "moved with compassion," touches him: "I want to. Be made clean" (1:40-41). The man with "an unclean spirit" lives among the tombs; healed, he asks to go with Jesus and is sent "to your house, to your friends" (Mark 5:1-20). Tamar was raped by her half-brother Amnon. She puts ashes on her head, tears her robe and goes away crying aloud; Absalom tells her to "hold your peace," and "Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house" (2 Samuel 13:19-20). Support, if this happened to you: [RAINN](https://www.rainn.org/) in the United States, [Rape Crisis England and Wales](https://rapecrisis.org.uk/), the [Dublin Rape Crisis Centre](https://www.drcc.ie/) in Ireland, and [1800RESPECT](https://www.1800respect.org.au/) on 1800 737 732 in Australia. ## Widowed Anna, married seven years, "had been a widow for about eighty-four years." She "didn’t depart from the temple," prayed and fasted night and day, and spoke of the child "to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem" (Luke 2:36-38). The Catholic Church reads her story at the [Presentation of the Lord](https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020226.cfm) on 2 February. The King James wording of 1 Timothy 5:5 reads, "Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day." The Greek behind "desolate" is *monoo*, left alone, in [Strong's](https://biblehub.com/greek/3443.htm). If your loneliness came with a death, [who in the Bible grieved](https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-grieved) goes person by person. ![A hairbrush and a small glass perfume bottle on a dressing table in soft afternoon light](https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-was-lonely/the-dressing-table.jpg) ## Jesus When many disciples go back, Jesus asks the Twelve, "You don’t also want to go away, do you?" Peter answers, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:67-68). The night before his death he says, "you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:32). Matthew records "all the disciples left him, and fled" (26:56), and Luke keeps his words earlier that evening: "But you are those who have continued with me in my trials" (22:28). One reader wrote on Reddit's r/TrueChristian, ["It must have being so alienating for Jesus."](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueChristian/comments/ptv6o2) [What the Bible says about loneliness](https://biblenudge.com/blog/what-does-the-bible-say-about-loneliness) reads Gethsemane. ## For a study or small group Hover or tap a row to highlight it. Sort by a column heading; a third click puts the rows back in their original order. | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Jeremiah | Jeremiah 15-16, 38 | Spoke up | Ebedmelech | | Joseph | Genesis 37-45 | Sent away | The cupbearer | | Job | Job 19 | Deserted | His friends | | The man with leprosy | Mark 1:40-45 | Put outside | Jesus | | Anna | Luke 2:36-38 | Widowed | Those waiting in the temple | | Jesus | John 16:31-33 | Deserted | The Father | WhoJeremiah PassageJeremiah 15-16, 38 What kind of aloneSpoke up Who else is thereEbedmelech WhoJoseph PassageGenesis 37-45 What kind of aloneSent away Who else is thereThe cupbearer WhoJob PassageJob 19 What kind of aloneDeserted Who else is thereHis friends WhoThe man with leprosy PassageMark 1:40-45 What kind of alonePut outside Who else is thereJesus WhoAnna PassageLuke 2:36-38 What kind of aloneWidowed Who else is thereThose waiting in the temple WhoJesus PassageJohn 16:31-33 What kind of aloneDeserted Who else is thereThe Father Our suggested six-week order: Jeremiah, Joseph, Job 19, the people put outside, Anna, and John 16. ## Questions people ask **Can God be lonely?** The [Catholic Catechism](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1A.HTM) (293), quoting Vatican I, says the world was made to show God's glory rather than add to it. The [Westminster Confession](https://www.opc.org/wcf.html) (2.2) calls God "all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made." Orthodox teaching speaks of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in eternal communion, and [Maimonides](https://www.sefaria.org/Guide_for_the_Perplexed%2C_Part_1.58?lang=bi) describes God as depending on nothing created. **Is chosen solitude the same thing?** Abba Matoes, in the [Sayings of the Desert Fathers](https://voicesofthefathers.org/library/sayings-of-the-desert-fathers-alphabetical/matoes), said, "It is not through virtue that I live in solitude, but through weakness; those who live in the midst of men are the strong ones." Henri Nouwen, Catholic, wrote in [Reaching Out](https://www.henrinouwen.org/henris-bookshelf/reaching-out) (1975) of "the movement from loneliness to solitude." ## Where to go next The [NHS](https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/) says, "Loneliness is an issue that can affect us all, young or old, at any point in our lives," and that [low mood](https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/feelings-and-symptoms/low-mood-sadness-depression/) lasting two weeks or more could be a sign of depression, so see a family doctor (a GP in the UK). For company: [The Silver Line](https://www.thesilverline.org.uk/), Age UK's telephone friendship service, in the United Kingdom; [ALONE](https://alone.ie/) in Ireland; and [Friends for Good](https://friendsforgood.org.au/) in Australia. If you are thinking of ending your life: 988 in the United States, 9-8-8 in Canada, Samaritans on 116 123 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or [Find A Helpline](https://findahelpline.com/) elsewhere. Tonight, read one person's story, then pray Psalm 25:16-17 as it is written. [Bible Nudge](https://biblenudge.com/) can take a line in your own words and return one passage with the verses around it. [Find a passage](https://biblenudge.com/nudge). ## Words that come up here Tap a term to see what it means. **Yachid.** The Hebrew word behind "desolate" in [Psalm 25:16](https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-25-16-17), meaning only or solitary. ## Share this page If somebody you know is carrying this, the link goes straight to the passage and what surrounds it. Nothing here asks them to sign up for anything. [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbiblenudge.com%2Fblog%2Fwho-in-the-bible-was-lonely)[Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbiblenudge.com%2Fblog%2Fwho-in-the-bible-was-lonely&media=https%3A%2F%2Fbiblenudge.com%2Fblog%2Fwho-in-the-bible-was-lonely%2Ffeatured.jpg&description=Who%20in%20the%20Bible%20Was%20Lonely%3A%20Jeremiah%2C%20Joseph%2C%20Job%2C%20Anna%2C%20the%20People%20Put%20Outside%20the%20Camp%2C%20and%20Jesus) ## Related Articles - [Leah Name Meaning in the Bible: Who Leah Was, What Her Name Means, and the Woman Genesis Says God Saw](https://biblenudge.com/blog/leah-name-meaning-bible): What Leah means, who she was in Genesis, where she is buried, and Psalm 25:16-17 for anyone who has felt like second choice. - [When Your Parent Lives Alone: Daily Check-In Calls, Where to Find One, How to Ask, and Psalm 25 for the Worry](https://biblenudge.com/blog/when-your-parent-lives-alone-daily-check-in-calls): A parent on their own and a phone that may go unanswered: where to ask for a regular check-in call, how to raise it, and Psalm 25:16-17. - [When Loneliness Is Affecting Your Health: What the New Study Found, a First Step This Week, and Psalm 25 to Pray](https://biblenudge.com/blog/when-loneliness-is-affecting-your-health): This week's loneliness study in plain terms, small steps for this week, people to call, and Psalm 25:16-17 to pray tonight.