28 Bible Verses About Patience

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 KJV

Paul calls these the fruit of the Spirit, and the word matters. Fruit is grown, not manufactured. That takes some pressure off anyone who has tried to be patient by gritting their teeth. The KJV renders it longsuffering and the ESV patience. Both point to a temper that is slow to run out. Patience is listed with love, joy and peace as part of one character growing together, not a separate skill to master alone.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

1 Corinthians 13:4 KJV

It is read at weddings, but it was written to a church divided by rivalries. When Paul describes what love does, patience is part of the description, set beside kindness. The KJV's wording, suffering long, makes plain that this is not a mood. It is a willingness to absorb cost from people over time. If being patient with someone has felt like the opposite of loving them, this verse treats it as one of love's most ordinary forms.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 ESV

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 KJV

Two comparisons that belong together. The end of a thing is better than its beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one. Pride wants the outcome now and on its own terms. Patience can stand in the unfinished middle without needing to prove anything. For anyone partway through a project, a recovery or a long relationship, the verse quietly suggests that the middle is not the place to pass judgment on it.

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32 ESV

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Proverbs 16:32 KJV

Being slow to anger is ranked above being mighty, and ruling your own spirit above taking a city. The comparison is deliberately lopsided. Conquest is public and celebrated, while self-restraint is invisible and rarely praised. Proverbs insists the invisible one is worth more. If holding your tongue in a tense moment has ever felt like losing, this proverb argues that it was the stronger act.

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:14 ESV

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 27:14 KJV

The psalm is frank about enemies and about the fear of being forsaken, and it answers them with an instruction: wait for the LORD. The command is given twice, with courage and strength in between, as though one telling would not hold. Waiting here is not passive. It takes nerve to keep looking toward God when nothing visible has changed, and the psalm treats that nerve as something God strengthens.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 37:7 ESV

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Psalm 37:7 KJV

Be still and wait, and the reason given is specific. The psalm has in view someone watching another person prosper by scheming. That is one of the hardest kinds of waiting, because it comes with a running comparison. The psalm does not pretend the scheming has failed. It asks the reader not to fret over it, and to leave the outcome with God rather than carry it around.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:1-3 ESV

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:1-3 KJV

This is a waiting that was answered. The psalmist waited patiently, was heard, and was lifted out of a miry pit and set on rock with a new song. The text does not say how long the waiting lasted, and that silence is useful. The psalm can be prayed by someone in the first week or the fifth year. What it records is that the waiting was directed at someone, and that he bent down to listen.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 ESV

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 KJV

It is often printed on mugs, but the setting is weariness. The surrounding lines admit that even the young grow tired and fall. The promise is renewed strength for those who wait for the LORD, and the images move from soaring to running to walking. Read that way, it covers the days when flying is out of the question and simply walking without fainting is the answer to prayer.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV

The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:25-26 KJV

The voice in Lamentations 3 has seen the city fall and says so in raw terms, which is what gives these lines their weight. Amid that grief comes the claim that the LORD is good to those who wait for him, and that it is good to wait quietly for his salvation. This is not patience from a comfortable distance. It is someone choosing hope while the losses are still in plain view.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3 ESV

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Habakkuk 2:3 KJV

Habakkuk had asked God how long he must cry out, and this belongs to the answer. The vision has an appointed time. If it seems slow, wait for it, because it will surely come. Notice the honesty. God does not deny that it will feel slow, but he separates feeling delayed from being late. For anyone holding a promise that has not yet arrived, that distinction is worth carrying.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6 ESV

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6 KJV

Waiting for the Lord is compared to watchmen waiting for the morning, and the comparison is repeated. A watchman knows dawn is coming, yet the night is still long. That is the shape of the patience described here: no doubt about whether, only the ache of when. The psalm ties the waiting to hope in God's word, which gives the night something to hold besides the clock.

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Ephesians 4:2 ESV

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Ephesians 4:2 KJV

Paul describes how believers are to live together: with humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love. Bearing with is a frank phrase. It assumes the people around you will sometimes be hard to bear, and it does not ask you to pretend otherwise. What it asks is that the friction be carried in love rather than answered in kind. That is a long commitment, not a single good moment.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:12-13 ESV

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Colossians 3:12-13 KJV

Put on is clothing language, something chosen and worn on purpose each day. Patience is listed with compassion, kindness, humility and meekness, and then made concrete: bear with one another and forgive, as the Lord has forgiven you. The grounding is worth noticing. Patience with others rests on forgiveness already received, so it draws on what has been given rather than on how much you can personally endure.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

James 1:19 ESV

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

James 1:19 KJV

Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Most impatience with people shows up in the mouth before anywhere else, and this verse slows down the moment between hearing and answering. The listening is meant to be fast and the reply unhurried, which reverses how most arguments actually go. James adds the reason: human anger does not produce the righteousness God is after.

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

Proverbs 15:18 ESV

A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Proverbs 15:18 KJV

A hot temper stirs up strife, and a slow temper calms it. The proverb gives the patient person real influence in a heated room. Patience is not presented as weakness or as simply absorbing the blow. It is an action that changes what happens next. When a conversation is escalating, the one willing to slow down is often the only one still able to bring it back down.

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

Proverbs 19:11 ESV

The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

Proverbs 19:11 KJV

Good sense makes a person slow to anger, and overlooking an offence is called their glory. Read alongside the rest of Proverbs, which takes injustice seriously, overlooking is not excusing real harm. It is a decision that this particular slight does not need an answer. Proverbs treats that decision as something admirable rather than a defeat, a kind of strength that rarely gets noticed by anyone.

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 KJV

Paul names different people in a congregation, the idle, the fainthearted and the weak, and gives each a different response: warning, encouragement, help. He asks for patience with them all. It is a realistic instruction. People need different things, and none of them change on your schedule. Patience is what keeps the warning, the encouraging and the helping going after the first attempt has not worked.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Romans 5:3-4 ESV

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Romans 5:3-4 KJV

Paul traces a chain: suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Where the ESV has endurance, the KJV has patience. The claim is not that suffering is good, but that it is not wasted. Something is being formed under the pressure. For anyone wondering whether a long, hard stretch is accomplishing anything, Paul's answer is that it may be building the very hope it seems to be draining.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4 ESV

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:2-4 KJV

James says the testing of faith produces steadfastness, which the KJV calls patience. He asks that it be allowed to finish its work, so the reader becomes complete and lacking nothing. Counting trials as joy is a demanding instruction, but the reason given is the outcome, not the pain. Patience is pictured as something with a job to do, and the real temptation is cutting that job short.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 12:12 ESV

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

Romans 12:12 KJV

Three short commands that lean on each other: rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Patience is not asked for on its own. It is joined to hope and to prayer, as though it needs both to stay upright. When endurance is running thin, this verse points to the two things that feed it rather than simply demanding more of it.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:25 ESV

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:25 KJV

Hope, by definition, is for what is not yet seen, and Paul draws the conclusion: if we hope for it, we wait for it with patience. In context he has been writing about creation groaning, and believers groaning with it as they wait. Patience here is not a personality trait. It is what hope looks like while it is still waiting, and the groaning and the patience are allowed to exist together.

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

James 5:7-8 ESV

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James 5:7-8 KJV

The picture is a farmer waiting for the precious fruit of the earth through the early and late rains. The work of planting is done, and what remains is out of the farmer's hands. James applies this to waiting for the Lord's coming and tells readers to establish their hearts. It suits any season where you have done what you can and the result depends on weather you cannot command.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9 ESV

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Galatians 6:9 KJV

Do not grow weary of doing good, because in due season you will reap if you do not give up. This is patience aimed at faithfulness rather than at a single outcome: keeping on with good that seems to produce nothing visible. Due season is an honest phrase. It concedes a gap between sowing and reaping, and it asks the reader not to quit in the gap.

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Exodus 34:6 ESV

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Exodus 34:6 KJV

God describes himself to Moses as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. The setting is the renewal of the covenant after the golden calf, which makes slow to anger anything but theoretical. The description is echoed elsewhere in the Old Testament, in the psalms and the prophets. Whatever patience Scripture asks of people, it first locates in the character of God.

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 103:8 ESV

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Psalm 103:8 KJV

The psalm takes up the words God spoke to Moses, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and sings them back. The surrounding lines say he does not deal with us according to our sins, and that he remembers we are dust. For anyone who assumes God's patience with them has finally run out, this psalm is a reminder of how he has chosen to describe himself.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Romans 2:4 ESV

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Romans 2:4 KJV

Paul warns against presuming on God's kindness, forbearance and patience, and says what that kindness is for: it is meant to lead to repentance. Divine patience is not indifference, and it is not a sign that nothing matters. It is room deliberately left open for someone to turn around. The verse is both a comfort and a nudge, and it is meant to be both.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV

The letter anticipates scoffers asking where the promised coming of the Lord is. Peter's answer is that the Lord is not slow as some count slowness. He is patient, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. What looks like delay from below is described as mercy. When God's timing feels like absence, this verse offers another way to read the wait.

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:16 ESV

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

1 Timothy 1:16 KJV

Paul calls himself the foremost of sinners, and in the same passage a former blasphemer and persecutor. He says he received mercy so that Christ could display his perfect patience in him as an example to those who would believe. His own story is offered as evidence of how far God's patience reaches. Anyone who suspects they have exhausted it is being shown a worst case that was not exhausted.