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Encouraging Bible Verses

12 verses · ESV & King James Version

Encouragement is not cheerfulness

If you came here for something upbeat, some of the verses below will surprise you. Biblical encouragement is rarely light. It is usually a command to be strong, spoken to someone who is not, standing in front of something they would rather avoid.

That is a much better fit for a hard day than a slogan is. A slogan asks you to feel differently. These passages mostly do not touch how you feel at all. They tell you what is true underneath the feeling — that God is present, that the work is his to finish, that the season will turn — and then leave you to walk on with that under your feet.

Watch what a verse was said to

The most encouraging lines in Scripture were mostly written to people in difficulty, and they lose their power when you lift them out of it. Jeremiah 29:11 is the clearest case. It reads like a promise of a smooth path; it was posted to exiles who had just been told to settle in for a long stay. That does not weaken it. It makes it usable, because it is a promise that survived the very situation you are trying to survive.

So read the note under each one. Not to complicate the verse — to keep it load-bearing.

12 verses for when you need them

  1. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

    Joshua 1:9 ESV

    Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

    Joshua 1:9 KJV

    The command to be strong is repeated several times in this chapter, which tells you something: Joshua needed telling more than once. The reason given is not his ability but God's presence wherever he goes.

  2. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

    Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

    Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

    Deuteronomy 31:6 KJV

    Spoken to a whole people facing something they had every reason to dread. The promise attached is not an easy road but that God will not leave them on it.

  3. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

    Psalm 46:1-2 ESV

    God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

    Psalm 46:1-2 KJV

    A refuge and a very present help — present being the operative word. The psalm then pictures the worst it can imagine, mountains falling into the sea, and says the fear still does not follow.

  4. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

    Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV

    He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

    Isaiah 40:29-31 KJV

    Notice the order. Strength is given to the faint, not to the already strong, and the renewing comes to those who wait rather than to those who push harder.

  5. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

    Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

    It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

    Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV

    Mercies new every morning is one of the best-loved lines in Scripture, and the voice saying it has watched a city fall. It is a statement made from the rubble, not from comfort.

  6. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

    Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

    The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

    Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

    God pictured as singing over his people. It is addressed to a city being told its judgement is over, which is worth knowing — this is what relief sounds like, not sentiment.

  7. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

    Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

    Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

    The most quoted verse on this list, and the most misread. It was sent to people already in exile, in a letter telling them to build houses and plant gardens there because the wait would be long. The future is promised; the shortcut is not.

  8. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

    Romans 8:28 ESV

    And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

    Romans 8:28 KJV

    It says God works all things together for good. It does not say all things are good, and it does not ask you to call a bad thing good in order to believe it.

  9. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

    2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV

    For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

    2 Corinthians 4:16-18 KJV

    Paul weighs present affliction against what is coming and finds it lighter. He is doing arithmetic, not denial — the outward wasting away is stated as fact in the same sentence.

  10. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

    Galatians 6:9 ESV

    And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

    Galatians 6:9 KJV

    Written to people tired of doing the right thing with nothing to show for it. The harvest is promised in due season, which is honest about the fact that the season has not arrived yet.

  11. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

    Philippians 1:6 ESV

    Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

    Philippians 1:6 KJV

    The work in you is God's project, and the finishing date given is the day of Christ. That is a long horizon, and it takes the pressure off finishing yourself by Friday.

  12. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

    1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

    Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

    1 Thessalonians 5:11 KJV

    Encouragement is handed over here as a job, given to ordinary people for each other. Most of the encouragement in the New Testament arrives through somebody, not out of the air.

One thing worth noticing across the whole list: almost none of it is cheerful. Encouragement in Scripture is nearly always spoken to someone facing something hard, and it works by putting something under them rather than by lightening the mood.

So if you are looking for a verse to send to someone today, send one and say why you thought of them. A reference on its own can land as a tidy answer to a problem you have not asked about. The same verse with a sentence of your own — I read this and thought of you, I am not going anywhere — is the thing 1 Thessalonians is describing.

And if you need more than encouragement right now, that is not a failure of faith. Verses are good company; they are not a substitute for a doctor, a friend who knows the whole story, or someone qualified to help you carry it.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.