Bible verses about
Bible Verses About Comfort
Comfort is the thing people most want to offer and most often get wrong. The instinct is to explain — to find the reason, to make the loss make sense.
Scripture almost never does that. Read these twelve together and what is missing is as striking as what is there: no explanations, very little about why, and a great deal about who is present and what is coming.
Twelve passages below, quoted in full in both translations, with a note under each. If you are reading this for someone else, the last section is the useful one.
12 verses for when you need them
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESVBlessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJVThe Father of mercies and the God of all comfort — a title, not a description of a mood. And the purpose clause matters: the comfort arrives so it can be handed on, which makes having been through something the qualification rather than the wound.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 ESVThe LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18 KJVNigh unto them that are of a broken heart. The verse locates God by proximity to the injury rather than to the recovery, which is the opposite of where most people expect to find him.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 ESVYea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 KJVThrough the valley, not around it. And the pronouns shift here — the psalm has been talking about the shepherd and now talks to him, which is what happens to language under pressure.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4 ESVBlessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4 KJVBlessed are they that mourn is not a claim that mourning is pleasant. It is a claim about who is on the receiving end of comfort, and the mourners are named first.
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 ESVFear 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.
Isaiah 41:10 KJVThree verbs in a row, all his: strengthen, help, uphold. Nothing here asks you to generate anything, which is the right shape for a verse addressed to someone with nothing left.
Jesus wept.
John 11:35 ESVJesus wept.
John 11:35 KJVTwo words, at a graveside he was minutes from emptying. He knew what he was about to do and he wept anyway — so grief is not a failure of faith, and this verse exists to settle that.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3 ESVHe healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3 KJVHealeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Binding is slow, physical, repeated work — the image is nursing rather than magic, and it sets an honest expectation about how long this takes.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4 ESVAnd God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4 KJVThe tears are wiped away rather than denied, which means they were real and counted. Everything in this verse is future tense; it is a promise about the ending, offered to people who are not there yet.
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 66:13 ESVAs one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 66:13 KJVAs one whom his mother comforteth. God chooses a mother as the picture, which is worth sitting with — the comparison is to the most ordinary and most physical comfort there is.
This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
Psalm 119:50 ESVThis is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
Psalm 119:50 KJVThis is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. The psalmist names a specific thing that helped rather than describing a feeling, and what helped was something he read.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ESVNow our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 KJVEverlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Paul writes it as a prayer, which quietly concedes it is not automatic — he is asking for it on their behalf rather than telling them to feel it.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 ESVGod is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 KJVA very present help in trouble. Present is doing the work in that sentence; the help is not summoned from elsewhere and does not arrive later.
Notice what is absent. Not one of these explains a loss.
There is no reason given, no lesson extracted, no suggestion that the grief is a misunderstanding. What there is instead: a presence in the valley, a God described as the Father of mercies, a promise about tears being wiped away, and Jesus weeping at a graveside he was about to empty.
That last one is the strangest and the most useful. He knew what he was about to do and he cried anyway — which means grief is not a failure of faith, and the shortest verse in the Bible is there to prove it.
If you are comforting someone, 2 Corinthians 1:4 is the practical one: the comfort you have received is described as the thing you are equipped to pass on. Not advice, not explanation. The thing that was given to you.
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.