Bible Verses for Encouragement: Jonathan Went to David in the Wood

Jonathan went to David in the wood

David is on the run. Saul, the king, has come out to kill him, and he is hiding "in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood." Then Saul's own son turns up:

Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God. He said to him, “Don’t be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father won’t find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.”

That is 1 Samuel 23:16-17 in the World English Bible. Jonathan does three things. He goes to where David is. He tells him not to be afraid. And he talks about David's future, a future in which Jonathan himself gives way. Then "they both made a covenant before Yahweh," and each goes home. Nothing about David's danger has changed.

Readers have taken "strengthened his hand in God" two ways. Ellicott's commentary glosses it as "strengthened his heart", while John Gill reads it as David's "hand of faith to lay hold on God". Either way, Jonathan points David toward God rather than toward himself. Later David would grieve him, and the page on losing a friend reads that lament.

When nobody comes

Not everyone has a Jonathan. Seven chapters later David comes home to Ziklag and finds it burned, with every family carried off. He and his men "wept until they had no more power to weep," and then his own people talk of stoning him. The verse ends: "but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God" (1 Samuel 30:6).

The Hebrew can be read two ways. SIL's translation notes say it "may mean either that David strengthened himself or that he was strengthened by someone else". Matthew Henry reads it as David encouraging himself, and David Guzik at Enduring Word calls it "much more than having a positive attitude." Both readings are open to you.

Some encouragement has to be found alone, at a table like this one.

Romans 15:13, a prayer you can send

The passage this site offers for hope is a prayer Paul writes for the church in Rome:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It asks God to fill people, which makes it something you can pray for yourself or send to somebody as a prayer on their behalf. The post on hope in hard times reads it closely, and Romans 15:13 in its setting shows the verses around it.

The start of the chapter is about encouragement itself. Paul asks "we who are strong" to "bear the weaknesses of the weak," and each person to please his neighbor "to be building him up" (verses 1 and 2). He says the Scriptures were written so that "through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (verse 4), and calls God "the God of perseverance and of encouragement" (verse 5). In this chapter encouragement is something a church does for one another. It prays for hope for people still in the middle of their circumstances.

If you are writing to somebody

If you are worried about getting it wrong, one finding may help. In four studies of adults and students, Dungan, Munguia Gomez and Epley found that people sending support "consistently underestimated how positively their recipients would respond" (Psychological Science, 2022).

A simple shape works for a card or a text: one short passage, one line on where it comes from, and one line of your own. For example: "Romans 15:13. Paul wrote this as a prayer for a church in Rome. I am praying it for you this week."

The choice of verse matters most when you are not sure where the other person stands on faith. The writer on Reddit looking for verses for their mother in the hospital found that "Everything encouraging has ‘believe in god’ ‘trust in him and you’ll be strong’". A prayer said on their behalf, like Romans 15:13, asks nothing of them.

One passage and a line in your own hand is enough.

People who encouraged, in Paul's letters and Acts

The early church gave encouragement a name. A man called Joses was known as Barnabas, "Son of Encouragement" (Acts 4:36), and when the church in Jerusalem sent him to Antioch, he "exhorted them all" to stay near to the Lord (Acts 11:23). Paul, writing with Silvanus and Timothy to the church at Thessalonica, asks them to "build each other up" (1 Thessalonians 5:11) and to "encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak" (5:14).

And Paul says he was on the receiving end. Writing to the church in Corinth about a hard stretch in Macedonia, "Fightings were outside. Fear was inside," he says God "comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Corinthians 7:5-6). The help came as a friend arriving.

What tends to land badly

Two warnings come from writing about other situations. Jonathan Fuller, in the Journal of Medical Ethics, writes about speaking to sick or injured people: "it seems that telling a person to ‘cheer up’ just does not work." The Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project, writing about grief, says platitudes like "Everything happens for a reason" can "minimize grief or invalidate a person’s experience." Fuller and Dungan's team studied different messages and different people, so neither finding is a rule for every card.

The verses most often sent, and who they were written to

Each of these had a first audience.

Jeremiah 29:11 is from a letter to exiles in Babylon, about a return "After seventy years are accomplished" (29:10). It was set aside for this site's hope passage, and the letter is laid out with the verse.

Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me," follows "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it." John Calvin read "all things" as Paul enduring both need and plenty.

Isaiah 40:31 answers a people who had said, "My way is hidden from Yahweh" (40:27).

Joshua 1:9 is spoken to Joshua as he takes over from Moses and leads Israel across the Jordan.

John 16:33, "In the world you have oppression; but cheer up!", is Jesus speaking to his disciples on the night before he died.

Some people look for verses they can claim over their own lives. Each of these can still be read that way with its setting in view: what was promised, and to whom.

When discouragement is something more

Discouragement and depression are different. The NHS says "A low mood often gets better after a few days or weeks," and "If you have a low mood that lasts 2 weeks or more, it could be a sign of depression." The charity Mind puts it this way: "Depression is a low mood that lasts for a long time, and affects your everyday life."

If you are encouraging somebody, the World Health Organization lists signs to look out for, including "talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live," and notes that "Asking about suicide does not provoke suicide." The International Association for Suicide Prevention suggests asking plainly: "I care a lot about you, do you feel suicidal?"

Questions people ask

What is a good short Bible verse to send someone who is discouraged? Romans 15:13 is short enough for a text and is phrased as a prayer, so it asks nothing of the person receiving it.

Did David encourage himself, or did God strengthen him? The Hebrew of 1 Samuel 30:6 allows both, and translators render it either way.

Is it all right to send Bible verses to someone who is not religious? A verse phrased as your prayer for them, with a line of your own, asks less of them than one that tells them what to believe.

Where to go next

If encouragement is not quite the word for what you are carrying, Bible Nudge can take a line in your own words and come back with one passage and what surrounds it. Find a passage. Or send Romans 15:13 to one person today, with a line of your own.

If discouragement has turned into thoughts of ending your life, please reach a person tonight. In the United States, call or text 988 for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In Canada, call or text 9-8-8. In the UK and Republic of Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14. Anywhere else, Befrienders Worldwide can point you to a center near you.