21 Bible Verses About Favor

Genesis 6:8

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

Reflection: The verse comes straight after the Lord’s grief over human wickedness and his decision to wipe from the earth the people he had made (6:5-7). Against that, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” The next verse calls Noah “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time.” The Hebrew word for favor is chen.

Exodus 33:17

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.’”

Reflection: God has told Moses that he will send an angel ahead of Israel but will not go with the people himself, “because you are a stiff-necked people” (33:3). Moses reminds God of his own words, “you have found favor with me” (33:12), and uses that favor to ask for the whole nation: “Remember that this nation is your people.” The NIV’s “I am pleased with you” renders the Hebrew “you have found favor (chen) in my sight,” and on that ground God agrees that his Presence will go with them.

Luke 1:30

“But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.’”

Reflection: Gabriel has already greeted Mary as “highly favored” (1:28), and she is troubled by the greeting. Verse 30 repeats the point in plainer words, and verse 31 says what the favor involves: she will conceive and give birth to a son and call him Jesus. Luke’s word for favor here is charis.

Psalm 5:12

“Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

Reflection: Psalm 5 is a morning prayer (5:3) that sets the arrogant and deceitful, whom God does not welcome, against “all who take refuge in you.” The last verse promises the second group blessing and a favor that surrounds them “as with a shield.” The Hebrew word is ratson, goodwill or acceptance.

Psalm 84:11

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

Reflection: The heading assigns Psalm 84 to the Sons of Korah. It calls blessed those “whose hearts are set on pilgrimage” (84:5), who go on “till each appears before God in Zion” (84:7). Verse 9 asks God to “look with favor on your anointed one,” and verse 11 says the Lord “bestows favor and honor.” The verse before it shows what the singer counts as good: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”

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: David praises God for healing him and bringing him up “from the realm of the dead” (30:3). The verse sets God’s anger, which “lasts only a moment,” against his favor, which “lasts a lifetime.” Verses 6-7 describe both sides in David’s own life: while God favored him he said, “I will never be shaken,” and when God hid his face he was dismayed.

Psalm 90:17

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.”

Reflection: Psalm 90 is headed “A prayer of Moses the man of God,” and it sets short, troubled human lives against God, who is “from everlasting to everlasting” (90:2). It ends with a run of requests: “Relent, Lord!” (90:13), satisfy us with your love, make us glad for as many days as we have been afflicted. The last is for God’s favor to rest on his people and for him to establish the work of their hands, asked twice.

Proverbs 3:3-4

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

Reflection: A father tells his son to keep love and faithfulness close, worn around the neck and written on the heart. The result is “favor and a good name” with God and with people, and the Hebrew for favor is chen. Verse 2 has already named what keeping the father’s commands brings: long life, peace and prosperity.

Proverbs 8:35

“For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.”

Reflection: Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 8, calling people to listen to her as “my children” (8:32) and to wait at her doorway. Whoever finds her finds life and receives ratson, favor, from the Lord. The next verse states the opposite case: “those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 12:2

“Good people obtain favor from the LORD, but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.”

Reflection: The proverb sets two people side by side: good people obtain favor from the Lord, and the Lord condemns those who plan wicked schemes. The Hebrew for favor is ratson. Verse 3 makes the same contrast another way: “No one can be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.”

James 4:6

“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”

Reflection: James is writing to believers whose fights and quarrels come from desires they cannot satisfy (4:1-2). He quotes Proverbs 3:34, where the Lord “shows favor to the humble and oppressed.” The Greek word is charis, which the same verse also translates as “grace” (“he gives us more grace”). The next verses spell out what humility means here: submit to God, come near to him, and “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (4:10).

1 Samuel 2:26

“And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with people.”

Reflection: Eli’s sons, priests at Shiloh, were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt and would not listen when their father rebuked them (2:12-25). The boy Samuel, ministering before the Lord in a linen ephod, is set against them: he grows “in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.”

Luke 2:52

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

Reflection: The verse closes the account of Jesus at twelve staying behind in the temple courts, where the teachers were amazed at his answers. He then goes home to Nazareth and is obedient to his parents. Luke’s wording is close to 1 Samuel 2:26 on the boy Samuel: both grow in stature and in favor with God and with people. The Greek word for favor is charis.

Genesis 39:21

“The LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”

Reflection: Joseph has been sent to prison on the false account his master’s wife gave of him (39:7-20). There the Lord was with him and “granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden,” who put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners. Verse 23 gives the reason the warden stopped checking his work: “the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”

Daniel 1:9

“Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel.”

Reflection: Daniel has resolved not to eat the royal food and wine and asks the chief official for permission. The verse credits God with the official’s favor and compassion, yet the official still refuses, afraid the king “would then have my head” (1:10). Daniel then puts the request to the guard instead and proposes a ten-day test of vegetables and water (1:11-14).

Esther 2:17

“Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”

Reflection: Esther “won the favor of everyone who saw her” (2:15), having asked for nothing beyond what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, advised. In verse 17 she wins King Xerxes’ favor above all the other young women, and he crowns her queen in place of Vashti. The Hebrew word is chen.

Acts 2:47

“praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Reflection: The Jerusalem believers after Pentecost met daily in the temple courts, ate together in their homes and sold possessions to give to anyone in need (2:44-46). Luke says they enjoyed “the favor of all the people,” using charis, and in the same sentence that the Lord added to their number daily.

Ephesians 1:6

“to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

Reflection: Paul lists what God has done for believers in Christ: chosen them, predestined them for adoption, redeemed and forgiven them (1:4-7). All of it is “to the praise of his glorious grace.” The verb behind “freely given” is charitoo, formed from charis, the same verb Gabriel uses when he calls Mary “highly favored” in Luke 1:28.

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Reflection: The chapter begins with its readers “dead in transgressions” and made alive with Christ by a God “rich in mercy” (2:4-5). These verses set grace against works: salvation comes through faith, is “the gift of God,” and leaves no one room to boast. Verse 10 gives works their place as what believers were “created in Christ Jesus to do.”

Hebrews 4:16

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Reflection: The invitation rests on the verse before it: Jesus is a high priest who can “empathize with our weaknesses,” having been tempted in every way yet without sin (4:15). On that ground the readers are told to approach “God’s throne of grace” with confidence, for mercy and for grace “in our time of need.” The phrase “find grace” uses charis.

2 Corinthians 12:9

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Reflection: Paul pleaded three times for his “thorn in my flesh” to be taken away (12:7-8). The answer he records does not remove it: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul then says he will boast about his weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on him, and ends, “when I am weak, then I am strong” (12:10).