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Bible verses for encouragement

Joshua 1:9 and Isaiah 41:10 are the two most people are handed, and both are worth having. But the passage doing the heaviest lifting here is Romans 8:28 — all things work together for good — which is also the one most often said badly to people having a terrible week. It's set out properly below, because read carefully it is far more useful than the version on the mugs.

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

  1. Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”Joshua 1:9 · World English Bible

    An order rather than a wish, given to a man taking over from Moses. The courage is commanded and the company is supplied.

    King James

    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.

  2. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.Romans 8:28 · World English Bible

    Work together — a weaving, not an excuse. Read verse 29 for what the good actually refers to.

    King James

    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.

  3. Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.Isaiah 41:10 · World English Bible

    Four promises, none conditional on how well you're holding up.

    King James

    Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

  4. Wait for the LORD. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the LORD.Psalms 27:14 · World English Bible

    Wait for the LORD. Be strong... Yes, wait. The repetition is the encouragement; it knows waiting is the hard part.

    King James

    Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

  5. Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, while we don’t look 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 · World English Bible

    The outward person decaying while the inward is renewed day by day. Honest about both halves.

    King James

    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.

  6. Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.Hebrews 10:24-25 · World English Bible

    Provoke one another to love and good works. Encouragement framed as something you do to other people.

    King James

    And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

  7. Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.1 Thessalonians 5:11 · World English Bible

    Build each other up, as you also do. A compliment and an instruction in the same sentence.

    King James

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

  8. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up.Galatians 6:9 · World English Bible

    In due season — the clause that concedes the reaping hasn't happened yet.

    King James

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

  9. I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”John 16:33 · World English Bible

    Said the night before his arrest. The trouble is stated as fact, not possibility.

    King James

    These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

  10. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.Romans 15:13 · World English Bible

    Joy and peace in believing, then abounding hope. The fullest blessing in the letters.

    King James

    Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

  11. Cast your burden on the LORD and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.Psalms 55:22 · World English Bible

    Cast your burden on the LORD and he will sustain you. Sustain, not remove.

    King James

    Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

  12. but those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.Isaiah 40:31 · World English Bible

    Waiting first, then the strength. The order is the whole encouragement.

    King James

    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.

What Romans 8:28 does and doesn't say

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.Romans 8:28 · World English Bible

It does not say every event is good. It does not say there is a hidden silver lining in the diagnosis, or that the redundancy was secretly a favour. It says things work together toward an end — a weaving, not an excuse. Read on to verse 29 and the good being aimed at is named: being conformed to the image of Christ. That's a specific promise about who you are becoming, not a guarantee about how things turn out.

Which means: if someone has said ‘everything happens for a reason’ to you this week, the verse they were reaching for is kinder and more honest than what they said. There is a whole page on it now: Romans 8:28 read in context, including the two verses before it, where nobody knows how to pray.

“Encouragement” is a bigger word than it sounds

Modern English has narrowed it. To encourage somebody now means roughly to cheer them up. The New Testament word is doing a good deal more than that, and you can watch it happen on this page without knowing any Greek — because our two translations render it differently.

Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.1 Thessalonians 5:11 · World English Bible

The King James has comfort yourselves together where the modern rendering has exhort one another. Same sentence, and the same Greek verb. Read down to Hebrews 10:24-25 below and that verb turns up again, this time as exhorting in both translations. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 on our page for grief and its noun form is comfort, five times in two verses.

The word is parakaleo, and the lexicons give its literal sense as to call to one’s side — para, beside, and kaleo, to call. The King James alone renders it as beseech, call for, comfort, desire, exhort, entreat and pray, depending on what the calling-alongside is for.

It is the same root behind the name Jesus gives the Holy Spirit in John 14 — parakletos, the one called alongside, which the King James translates Comforter and other versions render Advocate, Helper or Counsellor. The word had to stretch that far.

This is the English-drift kind of difference, not a manuscript question and not much of a translation dispute either: the Greek is not contested and both renderings above are fair. What moved is the English. Worth knowing if you came here to send somebody something — the older sense is not about cheering them up. It is about turning up beside them.

Joshua is told to be strong twice. Psalm 27 only does it once.

Joshua 1:9 is the verse this page opens with and Psalm 27:14 is a few lines below it. They begin with the same pair of Hebrew verbs, and in the second one the pair comes apart. Open the King James toggle under each of them below and you can watch it happen.

Joshua gets two orders. The interlinear parses both as imperatives — chazaq and amats, Qal imperative, masculine singular, addressed to the man taking over from Moses. Be strong; be courageous. Two commands, one person.

Psalm 27:14 opens with the same two roots and then changes the mood of the second one. It parses as a Hifil jussive in the third person, which is why our two translations print different sentences here. The King James takes God as the subject and gives you a promise: he shall strengthen thine heart. The modern rendering takes the heart as the subject: let your heart take courage.

The commentators divide the same way, and they are worth naming rather than waving at. At BibleHub’s parallel commentaries, Barnes reads it as God doing the strengthening and the Pulpit Commentary has “make an effort to be strong, and the strength will be given thee”; Ellicott answers “better, let thy heart be strong”, and Keil and Delitzsch render it “let thy heart be strong, let it give proof of strength”. We are not settling that one.

What the grammar does settle is the part worth having. Whatever that middle clause is, it is not in the second person, so it is not a second instruction aimed at you. Joshua is told twice. The psalm tells you once and then says something else — and then says wait again. If somebody has handed you this verse in a week where being ordered to be strong twice over would be too much, that reading is not available in the Hebrew.

This is a grammar difference rather than a manuscript one: nothing in the consonantal text is in dispute and both English renderings are fair. Joshua 1:9 turns up on our page for fear as well, where its last clause has a word problem of its own.

The one for when it's already gone wrong

John 16:33 is remarkably level about it: in the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world. The trouble is stated as a fact, not a possibility. Jesus said this the night before he was arrested, which is worth knowing when you read the cheerful half.

Encouragement is meant to be given, not just received

1 Thessalonians 5:11 and Hebrews 10:24-25 both frame it as a job rather than a feeling — build each other up, provoke one another to love, don't stop meeting together. If you came to this page looking for something to send someone, that's the tradition you're standing in, and it counts.

What this looks like on a phone

Push From God sends one of these when it fits what you've told it about your week — not on a schedule you have to keep up with.

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For a week that's asked a lot of you

Wait for the LORD. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

It says wait twice in one verse. Whoever wrote it knew that's the hard part.

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Questions

What is the most encouraging Bible verse?

Joshua 1:9 — be strong and courageous, don't be afraid, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go — and Isaiah 41:10 are the two most often turned to. Romans 8:28 and Romans 15:13 are the fullest.

What does Romans 8:28 actually mean?

It says all things work together for good for those who love God — a weaving of events toward an end, not a claim that every event is itself good. Verse 29 names the good in view: being conformed to the image of Christ. It is a promise about who you are becoming rather than a guarantee about outcomes.

What Bible verse should I send to encourage someone?

Isaiah 41:10 and Joshua 1:9 are gentle and widely known. If they are exhausted rather than frightened, Isaiah 40:31 or Galatians 6:9 fit better. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 is the verse that says sending it at all is the right instinct.

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