This is one of the largest questions in the corpus, and no single verse here answers it whole. What's provided are fragments of the biblical response — and they don't all point the same direction, which is itself instructive.
Job 3:20 is not an answer but a cry against the absence of one. "Why is light given to him who is in misery" comes from Job's opening lament, after the disasters of chapters 1–2 and before any of the speeches that try to explain them. Job never gets a mechanism. God's eventual answer in chapters 38–41 is not "here is why you suffered" but a display of the scale of creation Job cannot fathom. The book's structure is itself the argument: it refuses the neat causal link between suffering and personal guilt that Job's friends keep offering.
Ecclesiastes 2:26 offers something closer to a causal claim — the sinner's suffering is "travail" tied to his estrangement from wisdom — but Ecclesiastes immediately calls this observation "vanity and a chasing after wind," meaning even this pattern doesn't resolve into a satisfying system. The Preacher sees the connection and still can't make it add up to justice observed in the world.
The New Testament texts shift the question from cause to purpose within suffering that's already assumed to happen to the innocent. 1 Peter 3:17 and 4:19 are written to Christians facing persecution for doing right, not wrong — Peter's whole letter assumes unjust suffering is real and does not pretend otherwise. What he offers is not an explanation of why God permits it but instruction on what to do inside it: κρεῖττον... πάσχειν ἢ κακοποιοῦντας — "better to suffer than to do evil" — and in 4:19, to "entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator" (πιστῷ Κτίστῃ, a title used nowhere else in the NT — striking, since it grounds trust not in God's fairness but in the fact that he made them and so is answerable for them).
2 Corinthians 1:6 gives suffering a further use — Paul's affliction produces comfort transferable to others. 2 Thessalonians 1:6 adds that unjust affliction will be repaid — a claim about final justice, not present explanation.
None of this hands over a mechanism. It hands over what to do while unexplained: as Elisabeth Elliot puts it in These Strange Ashes, "God is God. Because he is God, he is worthy of my trust and obedience" — trust offered before, not after, the explanation arrives.
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,closest in meaning to what you asked
See also 5
- Jeremiah 20:18 Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
- Job 7:15 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
- 1 Samuel 1:10 She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly.
- Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to the bitter in soul.
- Job 33:30 to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing what is right than for doing evil.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
κρεῖττον γὰρ ἀγαθοποιοῦντας, εἰ θέλοι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, πάσχειν ἢ κακοποιοῦντας.
- κρεῖττον κρείττων adjective · nominative singular neuter G2909
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- ἀγαθοποιοῦντας, ἀγαθοποιέω verb · present active participle, accusative plural masculine G15
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- θέλοι θέλω verb · present active optative, 3rd person singular G2309
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- θέλημα θέλημα noun · nominative singular neuter G2307
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Θεοῦ, θεός noun · genitive singular masculine G2316
- πάσχειν πάσχω verb · present active infinitive G3958
- ἢ ἤ particle G2228
- κακοποιοῦντας. κακοποιέω verb · present active participle, accusative plural masculine G2554
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."
- 1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
- Matthew 26:39 He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire."
- Acts 21:14 When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The Lord's will be done."
- 1 Peter 2:20 For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.
Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
ὥστε καὶ οἱ πάσχοντες κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ πιστῷ Κτίστῃ παρατιθέσθωσαν τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ἐν ἀγαθοποιΐᾳ.
- ὥστε ὥστε conjunction G5620
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- πάσχοντες πάσχω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G3958
- κατὰ κατά preposition G2596
- τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
- θέλημα θέλημα noun · accusative singular neuter G2307
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Θεοῦ θεός noun · genitive singular masculine G2316
- πιστῷ πιστός adjective · dative singular masculine G4103
- Κτίστῃ κτίστης noun · dative singular masculine G2939
- παρατιθέσθωσαν παρατίθημι verb · present middle or passive imperative, 3rd person plural G3908
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this:
- 2 Timothy 1:12 For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
- 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing what is right than for doing evil.
- Psalm 138:8 Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don't forsake the works of your own hands.
- Psalm 146:5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God,
For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
εἴπερ δίκαιον παρὰ Θεῷ ἀνταποδοῦναι τοῖς θλίβουσιν ὑμᾶς θλῖψιν
- εἴπερ εἴπερ conditional G1512
- δίκαιον δίκαιος adjective · nominative singular neuter G1342
- παρὰ παρά preposition G3844
- Θεῷ θεός noun · dative singular masculine G2316
- ἀνταποδοῦναι ἀνταποδίδωμι verb · aorist active infinitive G467
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
- θλίβουσιν θλίβω verb · present active participle, dative plural masculine G2346
- ὑμᾶς σύ personal pronoun G4771
- θλῖψιν θλῖψις noun · accusative singular feminine G2347
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Zechariah 2:8 For Yahweh of Armies says: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
- Colossians 3:25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
- Deuteronomy 32:41 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
- Psalm 94:20 Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
- Exodus 23:22 But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν.
- εἴτε εἴτε conjunction G1535
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- θλιβόμεθα, θλίβω verb · present middle or passive indicative, 1st person plural G2346
- ὑπὲρ ὑπέρ preposition G5228
- τῆς ὁ article · genitive singular feminine G3588
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- παρακλήσεως παράκλησις noun · genitive singular feminine G3874
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- σωτηρίας· σωτηρία noun · genitive singular feminine G4991
- εἴτε εἴτε conjunction G1535
- παρακαλούμεθα, παρακαλέω verb · present middle or passive indicative, 1st person plural G3870
- ὑπὲρ ὑπέρ preposition G5228
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones' sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
- 2 Corinthians 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
- Ephesians 3:13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- Philippians 1:19 For I know that this will turn out to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.closest in meaning to what you asked
See also 5
- Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.
- Job 27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay;
- Proverbs 28:8 He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.
- Isaiah 3:10 Tell the righteous that it will be well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.
- John 16:24 Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.
From the interpretive tradition
God is God. Because he is God, he is worthy of my trust and obedience.
A worked example. Ask your own and it starts a new thread.