Bible verses about

Bible Verses About Strength

12 verses · ESV & King James Version

There is a version of this page you have probably already read somewhere: a list of verses telling you that you are strong, that you can do all things, that God will not give you more than you can handle.

That last one is not in the Bible. And the others do not mean what they are usually made to mean.

What is striking, reading these passages carefully, is how consistently they are addressed to people who have already run out. Isaiah 40 is written to exiles. Paul writes “I can do all things” from prison, in a paragraph about being hungry. The most famous line about strength in the New Testament — “my strength is made perfect in weakness” — was God’s answer to a man who had asked three times to be made less weak, and been told no.

That is a very different offer from the one on the fridge magnet. It is not “you are stronger than you think.” It is closer to: you are probably not, and that is the condition this was designed for.

If you are reading this at the end of a long stretch — a diagnosis, a job, a marriage, small children, a parent who is failing — the verses below are not asking you to summon anything. Read one. The note underneath is there to show you who it was originally said to.

12 verses for when you need them

  1. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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 40:29-31 ESV

    He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 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 40:29-31 KJV

    Written to a people in exile, not to athletes. The promise is for the faint and the powerless — which is the opposite of how we usually talk about strength.

  2. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

    Philippians 4:13 ESV

    I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

    Philippians 4:13 KJV

    Almost always quoted without its sentence. Paul is describing how he copes with being hungry, poor and in prison — not how he wins. Context makes it more useful, not less.

  3. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

    Psalm 46:1 ESV

    God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

    Psalm 46:1 KJV

    A refuge is somewhere you go, not something you generate. Some days the strongest available act is arriving.

  4. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

    Proverbs 31:25 ESV

    Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

    Proverbs 31:25 KJV

    Strength and dignity as clothing — something put on daily rather than a personality you were born with.

  5. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

    2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

    And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

    2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV

    The strangest promise in Scripture: the power arrives *because of* the weakness, not despite it. Paul asked three times for the weakness to go, and this was the answer.

  6. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

    Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

    Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

    Nehemiah 8:10 KJV

    Said to people weeping over how far they had fallen short. Joy is named as the source of strength, not the reward for having it.

  7. The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

    Psalm 28:7 ESV

    The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

    Psalm 28:7 KJV

    Notice the sequence — trusted, then helped, then the heart rejoices. The singing comes last, and that is permission not to start there.

  8. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

    Ephesians 6:10 ESV

    Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

    Ephesians 6:10 KJV

    “Be strong in the Lord” is passive in a way English hides: the strength is His, being made available, not yours being summoned.

  9. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

    Exodus 15:2 ESV

    The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

    Exodus 15:2 KJV

    Sung on the far side of the Red Sea. Worth reading on a day when you are still on the near side of yours.

  10. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

    Habakkuk 3:19 ESV

    The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

    Habakkuk 3:19 KJV

    The image is a deer on high ground — not power, but sure-footedness in a place that should be impossible to stand.

  11. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

    Psalm 73:26 ESV

    My 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 fail” is stated as fact, not fear. The verse does not deny the failing; it says what remains after it.

  12. Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

    1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV

    Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

    1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV

    Seek continually — present tense, ongoing. Strength here is not a one-off transaction but something you keep coming back for.

A note on the verse that is not here: “God will not give you more than you can handle” appears nowhere in Scripture. The nearest verse (1 Corinthians 10:13) is about *temptation*, not suffering, and it promises a way through rather than a limit on what arrives. If someone has said it to you in a hard season and it landed badly, that is because it was not true.

What is actually promised is smaller and better: enough for today, company in it, and strength that shows up in the middle rather than in advance.

If you are exhausted rather than weak — if the tiredness is constant, or sleep is not fixing it — that is worth a conversation with your doctor. Not everything that feels like a spiritual problem is one.

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.