Push From God

Bible verses for a broken heart

Psalm 34:18 and Psalm 147:3 are the two every list runs, and both are below in full. So are the ones the lists leave out — Psalm 6:6-7, where a man floods his bed with tears every night, and Psalm 31:9-10, where the years go on sighing. This page is for a relationship that has ended. If you are here after a death, the page for grief is the one you want.

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

  1. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.Psalms 34:18 · World English Bible

    Near to the broken-hearted. The most sent of all of them, and the Hebrew under 'broken' is the same word as in Psalm 147:3.

    King James

    The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

  2. He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.Psalms 147:3 · World English Bible

    Heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds — a bandaging verb attached to a word that means pain.

    King James

    He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

  3. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Psalms 73:26 · World English Bible

    My flesh and my heart fail. It concedes the failing before it says anything else.

    King James

    My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

  4. For his anger is but for a moment. His favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.Psalms 30:5 · World English Bible

    Weeping may stay for the night. Note it says the night, not a night — and it does not say which morning.

    King James

    For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

  5. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.Psalms 42:11 · World English Bible

    A man asking his own soul why it is cast down. The question is left standing.

    King James

    Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

  6. I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.Psalms 6:6-7 · World English Bible

    Flooding the bed every night. The lament nobody puts on a card, kept in the songbook anyway.

    King James

    I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

  7. Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.Psalms 31:9-10 · World English Bible

    Years, not days. The timescale is the honest part.

    King James

    Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

  8. “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30 · World English Bible

    Come to me, all who are heavily burdened. An invitation with no conditions attached to it.

    King James

    Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

  9. casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.1 Peter 5:7 · World English Bible

    Casting all your worries on him — the older wording is 'care', which is nearer to what it means.

    King James

    Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

  10. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 8:38-39 · World English Bible

    The list of things that cannot separate you. Read it slowly; the point is the length.

    King James

    For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  11. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.Proverbs 4:23 · World English Bible

    Keep your heart. In context it is about attention, not about who you let near you.

    King James

    Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

  12. The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,Isaiah 61:1 · World English Bible

    Sent to bind up the broken-hearted — the same bandaging verb as Psalm 147:3.

    King James

    The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

The two verses everyone sends you

They are the right two. It is worth knowing what is underneath them, because the English hides one thing and shows another.

The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.Psalms 34:18 · World English Bible
He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.Psalms 147:3 · World English Bible

“Broken” is the same Hebrew word in both. It is shabar, Strong’s 7665 — to break, to break in pieces — and the interlinears have it at Psalm 147:3 and at Psalm 34:18 alike. Our two translations both say “broken”, so this is one of the places where the toggles below cannot show you the thing: you would never know from the English that it is one word rather than two. We are saying so rather than letting it look like a discovery.

What the English DOES half-hide is the second clause of Psalm 147:3. “Binds up their wounds” sounds like field medicine, and half of it is: the verb is chabash (2280), the ordinary word for bandaging something. But the noun is atstsebeth (6094), which the lexicon glosses “a hurt, injury, pain” — a word for the pain rather than for the cut. A bandaging verb tied to a word for hurt. Nothing here is disputed; it is simply that English has no way to say it in three words.

Psalm 34:18’s other half does split in the toggles — the King James has “a contrite spirit” where the modern rendering has “a crushed spirit” — and that is worth knowing, because “contrite” has drifted to mean sorry for something you did. Our page for grief sets that out properly; we are not going to run it twice.

The laments are in the book too

Most lists stop at the comfort. The songbook does not.

I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.Psalms 6:6-7 · World English Bible

Every night. The bed, the couch, the eyes. Whoever wrote that was not looking for a silver lining and nobody in the book tells him to find one.

Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief. For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.Psalms 31:9-10 · World English Bible

Note the timescale: my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. Not a bad week. It is in the songbook at that length, uncorrected, which is the permission most people are actually looking for when they go searching at midnight.

Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.Psalms 42:11 · World English Bible

And this one asks the question rather than answering it. Why are you in despair, my soul? is a man talking to himself, and the psalm does not pretend the talking has worked yet.

The verse that is not about romance

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.Proverbs 4:23 · World English Bible

Proverbs 4:23 gets used as advice about who to let near you. Read the verses around it and it is a father telling a son to watch what he gives his attention to — the mouth, the eyes, the feet are all given the same instruction in the lines that follow. It is about attention, not about romance, and it is not a rule about keeping people at arm’s length. Worth saying, because it is often handed to somebody as though it were.

What this page is not

It is a list of passages with their context, not counsel. It does not tell you whether to go back, and it takes no position on divorce — that is a question Christians genuinely disagree about and this site does not settle those. If what you are carrying is heavier than a hard month, the NHS mental health pages are the right place, and they are free.

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 the third night of this

I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.

Psalm 6:6-7

Somebody wrote this down about flooding a bed with tears, and it was kept.

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Questions

What is the best Bible verse for a broken heart?

Psalm 34:18 — the LORD is near to those who have a broken heart — and Psalm 147:3, which says he heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds. They are the two most sent, and the Hebrew word for 'broken' is the same in both.

Does the Bible say anything about a break-up?

Not in those terms. What it has is a large amount of language for grief that is not bereavement — Psalm 6, Psalm 31 and Psalm 42 are written from inside it — and those laments are kept in the book without anyone correcting them.

Is Proverbs 4:23 about protecting yourself in relationships?

It is usually used that way. In context it is a father telling a son to watch what he gives his attention to: the verses around it give the mouth, the eyes and the feet the same instruction.

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