Bible Verses About Anxiety

When worry takes hold, Scripture offers a steady anchor. These verses about anxiety remind us to cast our cares on God and receive a peace that surpasses understanding.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)

Imprisoned in Rome and awaiting an uncertain trial, the writer urged a supportive congregation to replace worry with specific, thankful prayer. The counsel still works today: naming a fear aloud, rather than carrying it silently, often loosens its grip.

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” — 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)

Scattered across Asia Minor and facing persecution, the letter's recipients were first told to practice humility, then invited to let go of control entirely. It offers permission to hand over a worry that feels too heavy to manage alone.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28 (KJV)

Crowds worn down by rigid religious expectations heard this invitation as relief from an exhausting weight of rules. It reads today as an open door for anyone worn thin by responsibility, deadlines, or the pressure to keep performing.

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” — Matthew 6:25-26 (KJV)

Part of the Sermon on the Mount, spoken to subsistence farmers and day labourers for whom food and clothing were genuinely uncertain. The teaching does not dismiss the need; it redirects attention to the God who already feeds what He made.

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” — Matthew 6:34 (KJV)

The closing line of the same teaching draws a boundary around worry: today has enough in it. It is practical rather than sentimental, since anxiety mostly lives in a tomorrow that has not arrived.

“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” — Psalm 55:22 (KJV)

Betrayed by someone close enough to have once shared his trust, the psalmist set his anguish into words rather than letting it fester in silence. The counsel he reached is an old one: what you cannot carry, hand off.

“Fear 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 (KJV)

Israel faced exile and the loss of homeland and identity among foreign powers, and this word answered that panic with a promise of continued presence. It speaks now to anyone bracing for a loss they cannot prevent.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” — John 14:27 (KJV)

On the night before his arrest, Jesus prepared close friends for a separation they dreaded and did not yet understand. The reassurance he gave distinguishes a durable calm from the fragile kind that depends on circumstances going well.

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” — Psalm 94:19 (KJV)

Written amid injustice, the psalm describes thoughts multiplying inside a person, which is exactly how anxiety behaves. The comfort described does not stop the thoughts; it accompanies them.

“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.” — Proverbs 12:25 (KJV)

A single proverb observes that anxiety physically bows a person down, and that a kind word lifts it. It quietly makes the case for saying a worry out loud to someone rather than carrying it alone.

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” — Psalm 34:4 (KJV)

The psalm is tied to David's escape from a king by feigning madness — a frightening, undignified episode. His testimony is deliverance from fear itself, not only from the danger.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” — Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

From a song about a fortified city, applying the image of walls to the mind. Peace here is tied to where attention rests, which is why the verse works better as a practice than as a slogan.

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” — Psalm 56:3 (KJV)

Written when David was seized by the Philistines at Gath, the line concedes fear rather than denying it. It models a sequence an anxious person can actually use: I am afraid, and I will trust.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

Paul wrote from a Roman prison to a young minister who appears to have been genuinely intimidated by his task. The contrast is between fear and a sound mind — self-possession, not the absence of feeling.

“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.” — Joshua 1:9 (KJV)

Spoken to Joshua as he took command after Moses died, facing a task he had watched overwhelm his predecessor. The command to be strong rests on company, not on self-confidence.

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” — Psalm 27:1 (KJV)

David frames fear as a question — whom shall I fear? — rather than as a condition. Naming what exactly is feared often shrinks it to something that can be examined.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

Paul lists the categories his readers actually feared, including death and an unknown future, and rules each one out. It is written as a closing argument and reads best slowly, one item at a time.

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” — Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV)

Moses' farewell charge to a generation about to enter unfamiliar territory without him. The reassurance is not that the road ahead is safe, but that they will not walk it alone.

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Frequently asked questions

What does the Bible say about anxiety?

The 18 passages gathered on this page are the ones readers turn to most on anxiety: Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28, Matthew 6:25-26, Matthew 6:34, Psalm 55:22, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27, Psalm 94:19, Proverbs 12:25, Psalm 34:4, Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 56:3, 2 Timothy 1:7, Joshua…

What is a good Bible verse about anxiety?

Philippians 4:6-7 is the passage most often quoted on anxiety, with 1 Peter 5:7 and Matthew 11:28 close behind. Which one helps depends on whether you need reassurance, instruction or simply company.

Where can I read these anxiety verses?

You can read all of these verses about anxiety — and the whole Bible, offline, in your preferred translation — free in the Quiethaven app for iPhone.