Push From God

Bible verses for new beginnings

Isaiah 43:18-19 is the one: don't remember the former things, behold, I will do a new thing; it springs out now. The phrase worth sitting with is now it springs forth; don't you know it? — the new thing is described as already underway and not yet visible, which is exactly what the start of anything feels like from the inside.

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

  1. “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.Isaiah 43:18-19 · World English Bible

    Now it springs forth; don't you know it? The new thing is already underway and not yet visible.

    King James

    Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

  2. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.2 Corinthians 5:17 · World English Bible

    The old things have passed away. Read as a statement of fact rather than an aspiration.

    King James

    Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

  3. 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

    New every morning, written by a man sitting in the ruins of a destroyed city. Not optimism — counting.

    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.

  4. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.Jeremiah 29:11 · World English Bible

    Said to exiles told they'd be there seventy years. Better than the greetings-card version, and harder.

    King James

    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.

  5. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.Proverbs 3:5-6 · World English Bible

    For decisions made with genuinely incomplete information, which is most real decisions.

    King James

    Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

  6. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:13-14 · World English Bible

    Written by someone with a bad past who isn't pretending otherwise, only refusing to be run by it.

    King James

    Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

  7. 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

    Courage attached to company rather than to competence — which is the only version that survives a first day.

    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.

  8. Commit your way to the LORD. Trust also in him, and he will do this:Psalms 37:5 · World English Bible

    Commit your way, trust, and he will do it. Three verbs, in that order.

    King James

    Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

  9. For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:Ecclesiastes 3:1 · World English Bible

    There is a season for everything. Steadying when you're between two of them.

    King James

    To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

  10. The LORD himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”Deuteronomy 31:8 · World English Bible

    He goes before you — already there before you arrive, which is the useful bit when moving.

    King James

    And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

  11. He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”Revelation 21:5 · World English Bible

    Behold, I am making all things new. Present tense, near the very end of the book.

    King James

    And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

  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

    Renewed strength for people starting again with less energy than last time.

    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.

For a new job or a move

Joshua 1:9 and Deuteronomy 31:8 are both spoken to people about to cross into somewhere unfamiliar, and both attach courage to company rather than to competence. Proverbs 3:5-6 is the one about not leaning on your own understanding — useful when you're making a decision with genuinely incomplete information, which is most real decisions.

For starting over after something went wrong

2 Corinthians 5:17 and Lamentations 3:22-23 are the two. Lamentations is the more surprising: mercies new every morning, written by someone sitting in the ruins of a destroyed city. It isn't optimism. It's a man deliberately counting what's still true.

Philippians 3:13-14 — forgetting what is behind, straining toward what is ahead — is written by someone with a genuinely bad past who is not pretending it didn't happen, only refusing to be governed by it.

And Jeremiah 29:11 is worth reading properly before it goes on a card: it was written to people who had just lost everything, who had been told the wait would be seventy years.

Lamentations 3:22, and why your Bible may not say this

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

Both translations on this page agree: it is because the LORD’s mercies do not fail that we are not consumed. Open a recent NIV, ESV or NLT and the first half reads differently — the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. Same verse, different sentence.

That is not a stylistic preference. It is a question about the Hebrew, and it has been argued in print for well over a century. The Masoretic text has a first-person form, we are not consumed; an alternative reading takes almost the same consonants as a third-person form, they do not cease. Nineteenth-century editors including Thenius, Ewald and Bickell adopted the change and the Cambridge Bible follows them; Keil and Delitzsch argue against it on grammatical grounds, and both positions sit side by side there. We are not in a position to settle it and do not try.

This is the manuscript kind of difference — a question about what the text says, like Romans 8:28 — rather than a translation choice where the original is not in dispute, like Proverbs 3:5-6.

What makes it worth a paragraph here is what is not disputed. The line people actually quote at a fresh start — they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness — reads the same either way. The argument is entirely about the sentence in front of it.

2 Corinthians 5:17 has no verb in it

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.2 Corinthians 5:17 · World English Bible

The English needs he is to make a sentence. The Greek does not have it. Word for word the clause runs if anyone in Christ, new creation, and the printed Greek editions leave the verb out, as Greek often does. Every English translation supplies one.

No translator is doing anything sly — this is ordinary grammar. It is worth knowing because the supplied words decide what the sentence is about. He is a new creature makes the claim about the person. The barer reading — if anyone is in Christ: new creation — leaves open the larger one, that something new has arrived and the person is now inside it. Christians have taken it both ways in good faith, and this site does not adjudicate that either.

What survives both readings is the tense, which is the useful part at a fresh start. It is not an instruction to become new. It is a report of something that already happened.

Philippians 3:12-14: taking hold of what took hold of you

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:12 · World English Bible

This is the verse just before the one everybody quotes about forgetting what is behind, and it uses one verb twice. Katalambanō, Strong’s 2638, means to seize or lay hold of: first as something Paul is trying to do (that I may take hold), then, in the passive, as something already done to him (for which also I was taken hold of). The interlinear parses both. The next verse uses it a third time — I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold (3:13).

Three times in two verses, and the tenses are the useful part at a fresh start. The taking hold is Paul’s, present and unfinished, and he says plainly he has not managed it. The being taken hold of is past and done. The passage does not ask anyone starting over to have caught hold of anything yet.

The King James carries all three — apprehend, apprehended, apprehended — and this is one place where the older wording now reads differently. Apprehend still has that sense in one corner of English: the police apprehend a suspect. But in ordinary speech it now mostly means to grasp an idea, and read that way the verse sounds like Paul trying to understand something rather than reaching for it. The modern rendering’s take hold is the same Greek word, said in current English.

Where you have heard Ecclesiastes 3

Read Ecclesiastes 3:1 aloud to a room and a good part of it will hear a tune underneath. Pete Seeger set Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 to music in 1959, and the Byrds’ recording of it reached number one in the United States in late 1965. Almost every word of the lyric is the King James text; Seeger’s own contributions are the repeated turn and the closing line about peace.

It is also the standard answer to a pub-quiz question — the number one single with the oldest lyrics — although that title depends on the traditional ascription of Ecclesiastes to Solomon, which is not itself settled.

None of which is a reason to avoid the passage. It is a reason to know what you are competing with when you read it out.

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For the first morning at the new place

The LORD himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 31:8

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Questions

What is the best Bible verse for new beginnings?

Isaiah 43:18-19 — don't remember the former things; behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. For starting over after a failure, 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Lamentations 3:22-23 are the two most often read.

What Bible verse is good for starting a new job?

Joshua 1:9 and Deuteronomy 31:8 both address stepping into unfamiliar territory, attaching courage to God's presence rather than to your own readiness. Colossians 3:23 is the one about the work itself.

Is there a Bible verse about fresh starts after failure?

Philippians 3:13-14, written by Paul, who had a genuinely bad past, describes forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Lamentations 3:22-23 promises mercies new every morning.

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