22 Bible verses for a broken heart, to read slowly
Written by Raphael Navarro Schmitt · Reviewed by Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt ·
Short answer
The Bible does not hurry anyone who is suffering. Psalm 33:19 says God is near to those troubled in heart, Psalm 55:9 speaks of tears kept in his sight, and Jesus weeps in front of a tomb in John 11:35. The verses below sit with the pain before they mention a way out.
If you arrived here today, you are probably not looking for an explanation. This list does not have one. What it has are texts written by people who went through it and did not tidy it up: a psalm where the writer says he soaks his bed with crying, another where tears became the day’s only food, and one where the betrayal came from the man he used to walk beside into the house of God.
Scripture does not treat this as a failure of faith. It sets aside an entire book for lament, and it puts in the middle of the Gospel the shortest verse in the Bible, which is Jesus weeping in front of a tomb — knowing he would raise his friend out of it minutes later.
Read one. The list starts with the verses that name the pain, moves through the ones that promise company, and only at the end says anything about morning.
All 22 verses, one by one
The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit.
Numbered 33 here and 34 in Bibles that follow the Hebrew count. The promise is nearness, not repair. God close to the person who is broken — not after they improve, but exactly while they are like this.
Read the chapterHe heals the contrite of heart, and he binds up their sorrows.
The image is a dressing on a wound: he heals the contrite and binds up their sorrows. A bandaged wound still hurts, and the text does not pretend otherwise — it describes treatment, not anaesthetic.
Read the chapterO God, I have announced my life to you. You have placed my tears in your sight, and even in your promise.
One of the most concrete verses in the Bible about crying: the tears are placed in his sight, and in his promise. Not gathered up as a keepsake — filed where they count. Nothing you cried alone went unseen.
Read the chapterI have labored in my groaning. Every night, with my tears, I will wash my bed and drench my blanket.
Somewhere in the Bible a man says he washes his bed with his tears every night. If you have decided your reaction was excessive, this verse is here to disagree.
Read the chapterMy tears have been my bread, day and night. Meanwhile, it is said to me daily: “Where is your God?”
Tears as bread, day and night. And the question that hurts most comes from outside: "where is your God?" — the pain plus the humiliation of suffering while you believe.
Read the chapter10Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am troubled. My eye has been disturbed by wrath, along with my soul and my gut.
11For my life has fallen into sorrow, and my years into sighing. My virtue has been weakened in poverty, and my bones have been disturbed.
The psalm inventories the body: eye, soul, gut, bones, strength. Emotional pain shows up as a physical event, which anyone who has been through it recognises immediately.
Read the chapter13For if my enemy had spoken evil about me, certainly, I would have sustained it. And if he who hated me had been speaking great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.
14Truly, you are a man of one mind: my leader and my acquaintance,
15who took sweet food together with me. In the house of God, we walked side-by-side.
The distinction he draws is exact: had it been an enemy, he could have borne it. What breaks him is that it was someone close — a man he ate with and walked beside into the house of God.
Read the chapterMy soul, why are you saddened? And why do you disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still confess to him: the salvation of my countenance and my God.
The psalmist is talking to himself, and the same line already appeared earlier in this psalm and turns up once more in the next one. Which means he did not convince himself the first time. That is how it works.
Read the chapterAll peoples gathered together: trust in him. Pour out your hearts in his sight. God is our helper for eternity.
Pouring out your heart in his sight is not praying nicely. It is tipping the whole thing out unedited, including the parts you would not say aloud in front of anyone.
Read the chapterMy body has failed, and my heart: O God of my heart, and God my portion, into eternity.
He admits that body and heart have failed — in the present tense, with no promise that it will not happen. And it is straight after that admission that God is named as his portion.
Read the chapterFor, even if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they have given me consolation.
The shepherd psalm, numbered 22 in this edition. The verb is walking through the valley: crossing it, not living there. And the consolation named is not the exit — it is a rod and a staff, two objects that only work if somebody nearby is holding them.
Read the chapter19ZAIN. Remember my poverty and my transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
20ZAIN. I will call to mind the past, and my soul shall languish within me.
21ZAIN. These recollections are in my heart; therefore, I shall hope.
Each of the three lines opens with ZAIN, the Hebrew letter this stretch of the acrostic was built on. Watch the movement inside them: remember the affliction, sink under it, and then decide that those same recollections are grounds for hope. The hope does not deny the pain — it arrives after the pain has been named.
Read the chapter1The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the meek, so as to heal the contrite of heart, to preach leniency to captives and release to the confined,
2and so to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vindication of our God: to console all who are mourning,
3to take up the mourners of Zion and to give them a crown in place of ashes, an oil of joy in place of mourning, a cloak of praise in place of a spirit of grief. And there, they shall be called the strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, unto glorification.
Jesus read exactly this passage in the synagogue of his own town. Healing the contrite of heart is in the job description, not in a list of side effects.
Read the chapterWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not cover you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames will not scorch you.
None of the promises avoids the crossing: when you pass through the waters, through the rivers, through the fire. The company is guaranteed; the detour is not.
Read the chapterBlessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled.
Calling the mourners blessed is almost offensive, until you notice the blessing is in what comes next: they shall be consoled. Grief is the road, not the destination. (This edition orders the beatitudes off the Latin, so it is verse 5 here.)
Read the chapterAnd Jesus wept.
Three words. And he weeps knowing he will raise Lazarus in a few minutes — which is to say, knowing the ending excused nobody from feeling the middle.
Read the chapterTherefore, you also, indeed, have sorrow now. But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. And no one will take away your joy from you.
Jesus acknowledges the sorrow in the present tense before he says anything about seeing them again. He does not ask anyone to skip that part.
Read the chapter3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation.
4He consoles us in all our tribulation, so that we too may be able to console those who are in any kind of distress, through the exhortation by which we also are being exhorted by God.
The consolation received is described as something passed along. It does not explain why the pain came — it gives the pain a destination, which is a different thing.
Read the chapter5Those who sow in tears shall reap in exultation.
6When departing, they went forth and wept, sowing their seeds.
7But when returning, they will arrive with exultation, carrying their sheaves.
The image is agricultural and it takes time: nobody who sows in tears reaps the same day. This is the verse for the stretch where nothing visible has changed yet.
Read the chapterFor wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will. Toward evening, weeping will linger, and toward morning, gladness.
The famous line, usually deployed to hurry somebody along. Notice that it does not promise tomorrow morning: it promises that the night ends, without saying when.
Read the chapterAnd we know that, for those who love God, all things work together unto good, for those who, in accordance with his purpose, are called to be saints.
The most misused verse at funerals and break-ups. It does not say everything is good, nor that everything has an explanation: it says things work together towards an end. Save it for later — said too soon, it wounds.
Read the chapterAnd God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. And neither mourning, nor crying out, nor grief shall be anymore. For the first things have passed away.”
Last on the list because it is the furthest away. The image is of someone wiping another person’s face with a hand, which is far too small a gesture for a book about the end of the world.
Read the chapter
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about a broken heart?
It does not ask you to hide the pain. Psalm 33:19 says God is near to those troubled in heart, Psalm 146:3 speaks of healing the contrite and binding up their sorrows, and Psalm 55:9 describes tears placed in his sight. None of those passages sets a deadline.
Which verse should I read after a break-up?
Psalm 54:13-15 is the most precise when the hurt came from someone close: the psalmist says he could have borne it from an enemy. For the night, Psalm 6:7. And Psalm 61:9, which gives you permission to pour the whole thing out without choosing your words.
Is crying too much a lack of faith?
No. The shortest verse in the Bible is Jesus weeping at the tomb of a friend he would raise minutes later. An entire book, Lamentations, is given over to grief, and several psalms describe nights of weeping without a word of rebuke.
How long does it take for a heart to heal?
The Bible gives no deadline, and be wary of anyone who does. Psalm 29:6 promises that the night ends, without naming the morning. If sadness has been stopping you sleeping, working or seeing people for weeks, see a psychologist — that does not replace faith and faith does not replace it.
A prayer to take with you
Lord, I have no good words today. Take what is left of me and look after the part I cannot even name. I am not asking you to hurry, I am asking you to stay: be with me tonight, and wake me tomorrow with enough strength for one more day. Amen.