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Bible readings for a birthday

Every birthday verse list is quietly doing the same thing: reaching for passages that are not about birthdays. There is a reason for that, and it is at the bottom of this page. Above it: sixteen passages worth reading out loud at a birthday, in both translations, with how long each one takes.

16 passages · World English Bible & King James · public domain

Choosing for the birthday you are actually at

Birthday readings get used in four quite different places, and the right length is different in each:

  • A card or a message to one person needs five to ten seconds and no preamble. Psalm 20:4 is five seconds, Proverbs 9:11 is six.
  • A toast at a table can carry more, and wants something that praises rather than compliments — Psalm 145:1-3 or Psalm 103:1-5.
  • A milestone birthday — forty, sixty, eighty — has three readings here written for exactly that, and all three are about still having work to do: Psalm 71:17-18, Isaiah 46:4, Proverbs 16:31.
  • A child's birthday usually wants Psalm 139:13-14 or Jeremiah 1:5. One thing to know before you print the first of them is below.

Two practical notes. Read it aloud once before you commit — Psalm 103:1-5 is twenty-six seconds and longer in the room than it looks on a page. And if this is a card rather than a service, pick the shortest thing here that says what you mean; a birthday is not an occasion that wants a long reading.

Two of these passages also sit on our New Year page, which is doing a different job: that one is about a date in the calendar, this one is about a person. Where they overlap — the Aaronic blessing and Lamentations 3:22-23 — it is because both are blessings for someone standing at the start of something.

Everything here is public domain — the World English Bible and the King James — so you can print any of it in a card, an order of service or a newsletter without a licence, a fee, or a permissions email.

  1. For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.Psalms 139:13-14 · World English Bible

    “You knit me together in my mother's womb.” Fifteen seconds, and the most-printed birthday passage there is — because it is about the person rather than the date. Open the King James underneath it and the first line is almost unreadable now: thou hast possessed my reins. That is not a metaphor about steering; see below.

    King James

    For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

  2. ‘The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up his face towards you, and give you peace.’Numbers 6:24-26 · World English Bible

    The Aaronic blessing. Thirteen seconds, and the oldest words on this page. It asks for nothing from the person being blessed, which is what makes it work at a birthday as well as at a new year — you are not telling them to do anything. Related verses →

    King James

    The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

  3. This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!Psalms 118:24 · World English Bible

    “This is the day that the LORD has made.” Seven seconds, and the line people reach for when they mean this is your day. Worth knowing that in the psalm it is a day of public rescue rather than an anniversary — which does not spoil it, but it is not a birthday verse. Related verses →

    King James

    This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

  4. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:5 · World English Bible

    “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Ten seconds. Spoken to one man about one job, and the part that travels to a birthday is the first clause rather than the third. Read it for the being-known, not for the appointment.

    King James

    Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

  5. May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfil all your counsel.Psalms 20:4 · World English Bible

    Five seconds — the shortest reading here, and the one most likely to fit in a card. It is a prayer rather than a compliment, which is a harder thing to write yourself.

    King James

    Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

  6. For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.Proverbs 9:11 · World English Bible

    “By me your days will be multiplied.” Six seconds, and the verse behind most of the searching people do for a birthday proverb. The “me” is Wisdom speaking, not a guarantee of a long life — it is a claim about how to spend one.

    King James

    For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

  7. You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.Psalms 16:11 · World English Bible

    “In your presence is fullness of joy.” Ten seconds. The nearest thing here to a birthday wish that does not mention time at all.

    King James

    Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

  8. It is because of The LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.Lamentations 3:22-23 · World English Bible

    Mercies new every morning. Eleven seconds. Written by someone sitting in the ruins of a destroyed city, which is worth knowing if the birthday you are at is a difficult one. Related verses →

    King James

    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.

  9. I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.Psalms 145:1-3 · World English Bible

    “Every day I will praise you.” Seventeen seconds, and the best toast on this page — it is addressed upward rather than at the person, so it does not put them on the spot in front of a table.

    King James

    I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

  10. Praise the LORD, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.Psalms 103:1-5 · World English Bible

    “Your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” Twenty-six seconds, the longest reading here. Suits a significant birthday and a room that is sitting down. Related verses →

    King James

    Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

  11. Even to old age I am he, and even to grey hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.Isaiah 46:4 · World English Bible

    “Even to old age I am he.” Twelve seconds, and the reading to use for someone who has had a lot of birthdays. It is addressed to a nation rather than a person, but the promise in it is specific: carried, borne, delivered — three verbs, all of them about being held on to.

    King James

    And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

  12. God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and grey-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.Psalms 71:17-18 · World English Bible

    Eighteen seconds, and the most honest milestone-birthday reading in the Bible. An old man asks not to be abandoned, and the reason he gives is that he still has something to say to the next generation. A retirement it is not.

    King James

    O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

  13. Grey hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.Proverbs 16:31 · World English Bible

    Six seconds. Read both translations of this one aloud before you use it: the modern rendering makes grey hair a crown of glory attained by a righteous life, and the King James makes it conditional — if it be found in the way of righteousness. Same Hebrew, and a noticeably different thing to say to someone at a party.

    King James

    The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

  14. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers.3 John 1:2 · World English Bible

    Seven seconds. The one New Testament line that reads like an actual birthday wish — health and going well — and it is the opening of a letter to a friend, which is exactly the register a card wants. Related verses →

    King James

    Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

  15. For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 · World English Bible

    “A time to be born, and a time to die.” Fifteen seconds. The opening of the list everyone knows. It is a strange birthday reading and a very good one for a particular kind of birthday — the one where somebody is missing.

    King James

    To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

  16. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.Psalms 139:16 · World English Bible

    “The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.” Eleven seconds. The two translations print two rather different sentences here, and the reason is one Hebrew word that occurs nowhere else in the Bible — below.

    King James

    Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

What the Bible actually says about birthdays

The English word birthday appears three times in the King James Bible: Genesis 40:20, Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21. Two of those three are the same night — Matthew and Mark both reporting Herod's party. So the whole Bible describes two birthday celebrations, and both of them end with a man being executed.

The first is Pharaoh's:

On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker amongst his servants. He restored the chief cup bearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.Genesis 40:20-22 · World English Bible

The detail worth noticing is the one both translations keep. Pharaoh lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker — the same phrase for both men, three words apart. One of them gets his job back. The other is hanged. It is the same idiom doing two opposite jobs in a single sentence, and Joseph had already used it that way when he interpreted the two dreams in prison.

The second is Herod's, and it is the one people know:

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced amongst them and pleased Herod. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptiser.” The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given, and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.Matthew 14:6-10 · World English Bible

Mark reports the same evening from the other end of the room:

Then a convenient day came when Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.Mark 6:21 · World English Bible

The word behind “birthday” in both of those is the Greek genesia, and it occurs exactly twice in the New Testament — these two verses, one party. There is a curiosity attached to it that the lexicons record and we will not push further than they do: Thayer notes that the earlier Greeks used genesia of funeral commemorations, a festival commemorative of a deceased friend, and the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says the same, adding that observing the birthdays of kings was widespread in the ancient world. The birthday-feast sense is the later one. Make of that what you like; we are not going to claim the New Testament is punning.

Three passages that curse the day

Scripture's own material about the day you were born gets darker than the two parties. Job opens his mouth after seven days of silence and the first thing he does is this:

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. Job answered: “Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’Job 3:1-3 · World English Bible

Jeremiah does it too, in almost the same words:

Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.Jeremiah 20:14 · World English Bible

And Ecclesiastes puts the whole thing in one line:

A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.Ecclesiastes 7:1 · World English Bible

That is close to the sum of what the Bible says on the subject, and it explains something you may have noticed while looking for a verse to put in a card. Every birthday verse list quietly uses passages about being made, being known and being kept — not passages about birthdays. There aren't any good ones. The lists are right to do it; they are just not usually straight about why.

One birth that is announced as a celebration

There is a counterweight, and it is worth ending the honest section on. An angel tells Zacharias in advance what his son's arrival will do to the people around him:

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.Luke 1:14 · World English Bible

Scripture has nothing against the gladness. What it does not do is keep the anniversary.

Before you print Psalm 139 on a card

The passage almost everybody chooses has two things in it worth knowing, and both of them are visible on this page if you open the King James toggle.

The first is the opening clause. The modern rendering is you formed my inmost being; the King James is thou hast possessed my reins. Reins is not a metaphor about steering a horse. It is the 1611 English for kidneys, from the Latin renes, and the Hebrew under it is kilyah — kidneys literally, and figuratively the seat of emotion and affection, the interior self. The two translations are saying the same thing; one of them is saying it in a word that stopped meaning that four centuries ago. Nothing is in dispute here except English.

The second is three verses later, and it is a genuine gap in what anyone knows. Here are the two translations of Psalm 139:16 side by side — the modern one first:

Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.Psalms 139:16 · World English Bible

The King James has: Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The word they are dividing over is golem, and it occurs exactly once in the Hebrew Bible — here. Brown-Driver-Briggs glosses it “embryo”, a wrapped and unformed mass. There is nowhere else in Scripture to check it against, which is why one translation reaches for “my substance, yet being unperfect” and the other simply says “my body”. We are not going to settle it, and neither has anyone else.

What is not in doubt is the second half of the verse, and it happens to be the half you would put on a card: the days were written before there were any of them. That is the birthday sentence in the Bible, and it is not about a birthday at all.

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Questions

What is the best Bible verse for a birthday?

Psalm 139:13-14 — fearfully and wonderfully made — is the one most cards use, and it takes about fifteen seconds to read aloud. For something shorter, Psalm 20:4 is five seconds and Proverbs 9:11 is six. If you want a blessing rather than a reading, Numbers 6:24-26 is older than all of them. All sixteen passages on this page are quoted in full in both translations.

Does the Bible say anything about celebrating birthdays?

It describes two, and neither is an endorsement. Pharaoh holds a feast in Genesis 40:20 and hangs his chief baker; Herod holds a supper in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21 and has John the Baptist beheaded. The English word "birthday" appears three times in the King James Bible, and two of those three are the same party. Scripture neither commands the practice nor forbids it — it simply does not keep anniversaries, which is why every birthday verse list uses passages about being made and being known instead.

What is a good short Bible verse for a birthday card?

Psalm 20:4 is the shortest here at about five seconds — a prayer that you get what you actually want. Proverbs 9:11 is six, Psalm 118:24 is seven, and 3 John 1:2 is seven and reads more like an ordinary good wish than anything else in the Bible. Numbers 6:24-26 is thirteen seconds and is the one to use if you want the card to feel like a blessing.

Can we print these readings in a card or an order of service?

Yes, with no permission needed. The World English Bible and the King James Version are both public domain, so you can reproduce any of them in a card, an order of service or a newsletter without a licence or a fee. Modern translations such as the NIV and ESV are copyrighted and limit how much you may reprint.

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