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Bible Verses About Depression
Before anything else: depression is an illness, not a failure of faith. If someone has suggested to you that a real Christian would not feel like this, they were wrong, and Scripture does not back them up.
The book is full of people in the dark. Elijah, immediately after the greatest success of his career, sat under a tree and asked God to let him die. Job cursed the day he was born. Jeremiah did the same. Psalm 88 — written by Heman the Ezrahite, not David — never resolves at all. It ends with the writer’s companions gone and only darkness left, with no turn toward the light in the final verse, and it was kept in the songbook anyway.
That last detail is worth pausing on. Someone could have edited it out. Instead it was preserved and sung, which tells you the community that kept it did not think a faithful person always felt hopeful.
Notice too what happened with Elijah. God’s first response to a suicidal prophet was not correction or a sermon. It was sleep, then food, then more sleep. Only after his body had been cared for did anything else get said. That is a striking order of operations, and it is in the Bible.
The verses below are not a treatment. They are company. Read one — and please read the note at the bottom of this page.
12 verses for when you need them
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18 ESVThe righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18 KJV“Nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” The nearness is promised *to* the broken state, not after it lifts.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Psalm 42:5-6 ESVWhy art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Psalm 42:5-6 KJVThe psalmist asks himself why he is cast down and does not get an answer. He keeps speaking to himself anyway. That is a remarkably accurate picture of a bad day.
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 ESVI 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 KJVThe order matters: he waited, then was lifted. “Patiently” is doing hard work in that sentence, and the new song comes at the end, not the beginning.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESVCome unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 KJVAddressed specifically to the exhausted. Rest is offered, not prescribed as something you must first achieve.
It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Deuteronomy 31:8 ESVAnd the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:8 KJV“He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee.” Depression lies most convincingly about being alone; this contradicts it flatly.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26 ESVMy flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psalm 73:26 KJV“My flesh and my heart faileth” is stated as plain fact, without shame attached. Scripture lets people say that.
Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:7-8 ESVHear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
Psalm 143:7-8 KJV“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning.” A prayer for someone who cannot generate any feeling and is asking for it to be given.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESVBlessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJVGod as the God of *all* comfort — and the comfort described as something later passed on. Many people who have come through this end up being the one who helps someone else.
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5 ESVFor his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Psalm 30:5 KJV“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Be careful with this one: the night in question is not always a single night, and the verse is not a timetable.
And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
1 Kings 19:5-8 ESVAnd as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
1 Kings 19:5-8 KJVElijah, after his greatest victory, asked God to let him die. God's first response was not a sermon — it was sleep, food, and more sleep. Only afterwards was anything said.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1-3 ESVThe Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1-3 KJVBeauty for ashes, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness — an exchange, not an instruction to cheer up.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:11-12 ESVIf I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Psalm 139:11-12 KJV“The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” Whatever you can or cannot feel right now does not change where God is.
## Please read this
Depression responds to treatment, and getting treatment is not a lack of faith.
**Tell your doctor.** Say the words out loud to one person you trust. If you are not sure how to start, "I have not felt like myself for a while and I think I need help" is enough.
**If you are having thoughts of ending your life, or of harming yourself, get help today** — contact your doctor urgently, go to an emergency department, or call a crisis line in your country. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. Please do not wait to feel better before you reach out; feeling better is what the help is for.
Prayer and medicine were never rivals. Luke, who wrote a quarter of the New Testament, was a physician. God has answered a great many prayers through a GP, a therapist and a prescription.
And be gentle with Psalm 30:5. "Joy cometh in the morning" is true, but the night it refers to is not always one night, and using it to hurry someone through grief or illness does harm. If your morning has not come yet, that is not evidence that the verse is false, or that you are.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.