17 Bible verses about holidays and rest, for people who cannot stop
Written by Raphael Navarro Schmitt · Reviewed by Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt ·
Short answer
Holidays do not appear in the Bible, but rest appears on the first page. Genesis 2:2-3 shows God resting and blessing the day he stopped, Exodus 20:8-10 turns that into a commandment, and Mark 6:31 has Jesus telling exhausted disciples to go and rest a little.
Rest is the only thing God does in the creation account without making something. He separates light, water, land, animals — and on the seventh day he stops, and it is that day he blesses. After that, stopping becomes a commandment — and not a minor one: it goes into the list of ten, alongside honouring your parents. The Bible takes the subject far more seriously than we do.
Anyone looking up verses about time off is usually in one of two places. Either the bags are packed and they want something for the journey, or they are exhausted and carrying a vague guilt about wanting to disappear for a fortnight. The list below serves both, and starts with the second, because it is the more common: first the verses that authorise stopping, then the ones about roads and about the natural world.
One warning: biblical rest is not the same as doing nothing. It is stopping producing in order to be able to look. Psalm 8 and Psalm 103 only exist because somebody had the time to stand and stare at the sky.
All 17 verses, one by one
2And on the seventh day, God fulfilled his work, which he had made. And on the seventh day he rested from all his work, which he had accomplished.
3And he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. For in it, he had ceased from all his work: the work whereby God created whatever he should make.
The first blessed day in the Bible is a day without work. Nothing is produced in it — and it is the only day of the creation week that receives an explicit blessing.
Read the chapter8Remember that you are to sanctify the day of the Sabbath.
9For six days, you will work and accomplish all your tasks.
10But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it: you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, your beast and the newcomer who is within your gates.
Look at who is listed: son, daughter, male servant, female servant, animal, the newcomer inside your gates. Rest is commanded for everyone, including the people with no power to decide to stop on their own.
Read the chapterAnd he said to them, “Go out alone, into a deserted place, and rest for a little while.” For there were so many who were coming and going, that they did not even have time to eat.
The reason Jesus gives is mundane and concrete: they did not even have time to eat. It is not a mystical invitation — it is someone noticing that the team is at its limit.
Read the chapterAnd the Lord said, “My face will precede you, and I will give you rest.”
The promise arrives in two halves stuck together: presence and rest. One does not come without the other, which is why a holiday where you never switch off rests nothing.
Read the chapterIt is in vain that you rise before daylight, that you rise up after you have sat down, you who chew the bread of sorrow. Whereas, to his beloved, he will give sleep.
The most direct text against the culture of the productive small hours. And the closing line is disarming: sleep turns up as a gift, not as time lost.
Read the chapter12And I realize that there is nothing better than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.
13For this is a gift from God: when each man eats and drinks, and sees the good results of his labor.
Eating, drinking and seeing the good results of your own work are called a gift from God. It is the clearest biblical defence of ordinary pleasure — a beach, a full table, an afternoon with nothing in it.
Read the chapter“A handful with rest is better than both hands filled with labors and with affliction of the soul.”
The arithmetic nobody does before accepting one more job. A handful with rest beats both hands full — and the book adds what fills the second option: labour and affliction of soul.
Read the chapterWhen you slumber, you shall not fear. When you rest, your sleep also will be sweet.
Short and specific: sleep that is sweet. Useful for the first night of a holiday, which is usually the one where the body has not yet understood that it is allowed to stop.
Read the chapter41And the Lord responded by saying to her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled over many things.
42And yet only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the best portion, and it shall not be taken away from her.”
Martha was not doing anything wrong — she was hosting Jesus in her house. The correction is not aimed at the work but at the state of someone working who cannot be present.
Read the chapterBe empty, and see that I am God. I will be exalted among the peoples, and I will be exalted upon the earth.
Two instructions in sequence, and this edition puts it starkly: be empty, and see. The seeing depends on the emptying, which explains why so many people come back from a holiday without having rested at all.
Read the chapterThus says the Lord: “Stand above the ways, and see and ask, about the ancient paths, as to which is the good way, and then walk in it. And you will find refreshment for your souls. But they said: ‘We will not walk.’
The only verse here that ends in a refusal: they heard, and said they would not. Stopping on the road to ask is offered as an option, and options can be turned down.
Read the chapterBut those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.
The closing sequence is odd on purpose: wings, then running, then walking. It ends on the slowest verb, which is exactly the one most people need to learn again.
Read the chapterThe heavens describe the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands.
The verse for the first night somewhere you can actually see stars. Creation is described as something that speaks — and the quiet of a holiday is what lets you hear it.
Read the chapter4For I will behold your heavens, the works of your fingers: the moon and the stars, which you have founded.
5What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you visit him?
It comes from somebody standing still and looking up. It is the question that only appears once you stop producing long enough to notice the size of things.
Read the chapterHow great are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom. The earth has been filled with your possessions.
A whole psalm given over to describing animals, plants, sea and mountain. It works as a travel itinerary: notice what is there before photographing it.
Read the chapterBehold, I will send my Angel, who will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you into the place that I have prepared.
A promise of protection on the journey and of arrival at the place prepared. It is the road verse — the one you read out loud in the car before setting off.
Read the chapterA Canticle in steps: of David. Behold, how good and how pleasing it is for brothers to dwell in unity.
Last on the list because a holiday is rarely spent alone. One short line about the value of being together — including with the relatives you see once a year.
Read the chapter
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about holidays and rest?
The word holiday never appears, but rest turns up from Genesis 2:2-3, where God stops and blesses the day he stopped. Exodus 20:8-10 makes rest a commandment that covers servants and newcomers too, and Mark 6:31 shows Jesus sending tired disciples away to rest.
Is it wrong for a Christian to take a holiday?
No. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 calls eating, drinking and enjoying the results of your work a gift from God, and Psalm 126:2 criticises exhausting yourself by rising before daylight. Scripture treats rest as obedience, not as a reward to be earned.
Which verse should I read before a journey?
Exodus 23:20 is the most used as a travelling prayer, because it speaks of protection on the way and arrival at the destination. Psalm 120 is the classic alternative, and Proverbs 3:24 works for the first night away from home.
How do I keep a routine of faith while on holiday?
Reduce it rather than suspend it. One short psalm a day, read in the morning, keeps the habit without turning it into a holiday chore. Psalm 18:2 and Psalm 103:24 go especially well with days spent outdoors.
A prayer to take with you
Lord, teach me to stop without guilt. Take from me the hurry I pack in the suitcase, and give me eyes for what I can only see when I am producing nothing. Watch over the ones who travel and the ones who stay. Amen.