16 Bible Verses About Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Reflection: Paul opens the letter with praise, and in the verses that follow, comfort and its forms keep returning: “just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (1:5). The comfort is given for a purpose stated in the same sentence, “so that we can comfort those in any trouble.” Verse 6 adds that even Paul’s distress is “for your comfort and salvation.”

Isaiah 40:1

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

Reflection: The command is doubled in Hebrew as in English, both forms of nacham. The next verse says what the comfort consists of: Jerusalem is to hear “that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for.” The comfort is news to be spoken to a city, “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 66:13

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

Reflection: The verse before pictures Jerusalem as a nursing mother: “you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.” Then the Lord takes the mother’s place himself and promises to comfort his people as a mother comforts a child.

Psalm 23:4

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Reflection: The first three verses of the psalm speak about the Lord as “he”: “The Lord is my shepherd.” In verse 4, in the darkest valley, the psalmist turns and speaks to him directly: “for you are with me.” The rod and staff belong to the shepherd of verse 1, and the comfort the psalmist names is that the shepherd is there.

Psalm 34:18

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Reflection: The verses around it do not promise an easy life. Verse 19 says, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all,” and verse 17 says the Lord hears those who cry out to him. The closeness in verse 18 is promised to people already broken and crushed.

Psalm 119:50

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

Reflection: Psalm 119 is a long poem about God’s word, and in this stanza the comfort comes from a promise the writer holds on to while “the arrogant mock me unmercifully” (119:51). Two verses later the writer says the same of God’s “ancient laws”: “I find comfort in them.” Later in the psalm, verse 76 prays, “May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.”

Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Reflection: The second beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount pronounces a blessing on mourners and gives the reason in a promise. The verb is passive, “they will be comforted,” and the verse does not say when.

Psalm 30:5

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Reflection: The psalm is a thanksgiving by someone already rescued: “you lifted me out of the depths” and “you healed me” (30:1-2). Verse 4 calls God’s faithful people to sing, and verse 5 gives the reason. The verse sets a night of weeping against the morning that follows it, and anger that lasts a moment against favor that lasts a lifetime.

Isaiah 43:2

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

Reflection: The promise is addressed to Israel, whom the Lord calls by name in the verse before: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Waters, rivers and fire are all still there in verse 2. What the Lord promises is to be with his people as they pass through them.

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and 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.”

Reflection: Jesus speaks these words after praying aloud that the Father has hidden things from the wise and revealed them to little children (11:25-27). The phrase “rest for your souls” repeats Jeremiah 6:16, where the Lord offered Israel rest if they walked in the ancient paths and they answered, “We will not walk in it.” Jesus offers the same rest to anyone who comes to him.

John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Reflection: Jesus says this at the evening meal before the Passover, the night Judas betrays him (John 13:1-2). The verses before it promise the Holy Spirit, “another advocate to help you and be with you forever” (14:16), and add, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (14:18). The peace he leaves is set against what “the world gives.”

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Reflection: The verse just before it predicts that the disciples will be scattered and leave Jesus “all alone.” He tells them this in advance so that they may have peace in him, and he does not promise them a life without trouble: “In this world you will have trouble.” The ground for taking heart is what he has done, “I have overcome the world.”

Romans 12:15

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

Reflection: The line comes in a run of short instructions for life in the church, between “Bless those who persecute you” and “Live in harmony with one another.” It pairs mourning with those who mourn with rejoicing with those who rejoice, and asks the church to share both.

1 Thessalonians 4:18

“Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Reflection: Paul writes to a church grieving its dead so that they “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (4:13). “These words” are the verses just before: Jesus died and rose, and the dead in Christ will rise and “we will be with the Lord forever.” The verb is parakaleo, the same verb 2 Corinthians 1:4 uses, and the King James Version translates it “comfort one another with these words.”

Romans 8:18

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Reflection: Paul weighs present sufferings against the glory that will be revealed and finds them “not worth comparing.” The verses after it widen the view to the whole creation, which “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth,” and to believers who “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly” for “the redemption of our bodies” (8:22-23).

Revelation 21:4

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Reflection: John hears a loud voice from the throne announce that God’s dwelling is now among his people, “and God himself will be with them.” The words about tears echo Isaiah 25:8, “The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” The one on the throne then says, “I am making everything new!” (21:5).