20 Bible Verses About Meditation

Joshua 1:8

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Reflection: The Lord speaks to Joshua as he is about to lead the people into the land sworn to their ancestors (Joshua 1:6). The law is to be kept “on your lips” and meditated on day and night, and the purpose is practical: “so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” The next verse goes back to the command “Be strong and courageous.”

Psalm 1:2

“but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

Reflection: Psalm 1 describes the blessed person by what he avoids (the way of the wicked, the company of mockers) and then by what he loves. The verb is hagah, the same as in Joshua 1:8, with the same “day and night.” Verse 3 compares that person to a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season.

Psalm 119:15

“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.”

Reflection: In Psalm 119:15 meditating is paired with considering God’s ways. The following verse adds delight and a promise: “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”

Psalm 119:97

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”

Reflection: Meditation here follows from love for the law and fills the whole day. Verse 98 says what the psalmist gains: “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.”

Psalm 119:99

“I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.”

Reflection: The psalmist claims more insight than all his teachers and gives meditation on God’s statutes as the reason. Verse 100 makes a parallel claim about the elders, and there the reason is obedience: “for I obey your precepts.”

Psalm 77:12

“I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

Reflection: Psalm 77 begins in distress: “I meditated, and my spirit grew faint” (verse 3). The turn comes when the psalmist decides to recall “the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand” (verse 10) and meditate on God’s deeds. The verses that follow move to praise: “What god is as great as our God?”

Psalm 143:5

“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”

Reflection: The psalmist writes with an enemy crushing him to the ground and his spirit faint within him (verses 3-4). He remembers the days of long ago and meditates on what God’s hands have done, and in verse 6 that memory turns into prayer: “I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.”

Lamentations 3:21-23

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Reflection: The poet has just said, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall” (verse 19). These lines are a deliberate change of what he calls to mind: the Lord’s great love and compassions that are new every morning. Verse 24 draws the conclusion: “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Psalm 48:9

“Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.”

Reflection: The meditation in this verse is shared: “we” meditate, inside the temple, on God’s unfailing love. The line is spoken to God directly (“O God”).

Psalm 63:6

“On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”

Reflection: The psalmist remembers God on his bed through the watches of the night. The next verse moves from remembering to singing: “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.” The psalm opens with thirst for God “in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”

Psalm 119:148

“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.”

Reflection: The psalmist stays awake through the night watches to meditate on God’s promises. The verse before places him up before dawn, crying for help: “I have put my hope in your word.”

Psalm 4:4

“Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.”

Reflection: These words are addressed to people, not to God: the verse before tells them, “Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself.” They are to tremble, not sin, search their hearts on their beds and be silent. Verse 5 follows with what to do next: “Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord.”

Genesis 24:63

“He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.”

Reflection: Isaac, then living in the Negev, goes out to a field in the evening to meditate, and the camels he sees are bringing Rebekah to be his wife. The text does not say what he meditated on.

Psalm 19:14

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Reflection: The psalm’s closing verse is a prayer, addressed to the Lord as “my Rock and my Redeemer.” It follows a request for forgiveness of hidden faults and protection from willful sins (verses 12-13), and it asks that both the words of the mouth and the meditation of the heart be pleasing to God.

Psalm 104:34

“May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD.”

Reflection: Near the end of Psalm 104 the psalmist promises to sing to the Lord as long as he lives (verse 33). He then hopes his meditation will please God, speaking of God in the third person. Verse 31 makes a similar wish for God himself: “may the Lord rejoice in his works.”

Luke 2:19

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Reflection: The shepherds have found the child in the manger and spread what the angels told them, and everyone who heard was amazed (Luke 2:17-18). Mary’s response is set against theirs: she keeps these things and ponders them. Luke 2:51 says the same of her again later in the chapter: “his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

2 Timothy 2:7

“Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.”

Reflection: Paul has given Timothy three short pictures, the soldier, the athlete and the farmer (verses 3-6), without spelling out their meaning. He tells Timothy to reflect on them and promises that the Lord will supply the insight.

1 Timothy 4:15

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”

Reflection: The King James Version reads “Meditate upon these things.” The Greek verb is meletao, which Strong’s glosses as “to care for, attend to; hence be diligent, especially to ponder (study).” “These matters” are the public reading of Scripture, preaching, teaching and Timothy’s gift (verses 13-14), and verse 16 adds, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.”

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Reflection: Paul lists what to think about: what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. The verses around it frame the list. Verses 6-7 promise that God’s peace will guard hearts and minds after prayer, and verse 9 turns the thinking into action: “put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Colossians 3:2

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Reflection: The instruction rests on the verse before: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is.” Verse 3 gives the reason for looking there: “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”