Bible Verses to Read Before Bed: An Evening Order for the Last Ten Minutes, Simeon's Song, and a Blessing for the House

• Set the day down.
• Read one passage, Psalm 63:6-7.
• Close with words the church has said at night for centuries.
• For a household, a blessing.

Set the day down

The Jesuits in Britain describe the Examen, a way of looking back over a day from Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises, in five steps. The first two are in his words: "To give thanks to God for the benefits received," and "To ask for the grace to know one’s sins and reject them." Then come "Review the moments of the day," "Ask for forgiveness" and "Look towards tomorrow." The Anglican way in is the confession in the Episcopal Church's Compline, the short service said before sleep, which opens, "The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end."

One passage, Psalm 63

The passage Bible Nudge offers for night is Psalm 63:6-7, from a psalm written in a dry and difficult place, where the night watches are the hours the speaker lies awake. It begins earlier:

Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,

when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches. For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.

My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.

In the King James:

When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

The psalmist is doing on his bed what you are about to do on yours: remembering, and turning something over as he lies down. Read the two verses once with the light off or the phone dimmed, and stay with one question: What could you turn over in the hours you are awake? Sleepless nights reads the psalm for the hours awake, and psalms for sleep gathers the psalms kept for night.

If an argument is still running

Ephesians 4 is Paul writing to a church about how its members speak to one another. Verse 26 reads, "“Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath," or in the King James, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath". The paragraph ends, "And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other." Matthew Henry reads it as allowing that anger arises and asking that it not be kept; the Catholic Haydock commentary reads it as forbidding sinful anger and its continuance. It gives you something to do with your own anger before sleep: name it to God and set it down, and leave any conversation for daylight and your own judgment. In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus speaks to somebody at the altar who remembers that "your brother has anything against you." If somebody has harmed you, the domestic abuse services are below.

If tomorrow's list is still running

NHS Every Mind Matters says, "If you often worry in bed, try making a list of things you need to do the next day before you go to sleep." In a 2018 US sleep laboratory study of 57 healthy adults aged 18 to 30, Scullin and colleagues found that people who spent five minutes writing a to-do list fell asleep faster than people who listed what they had already done. Our idea: write tomorrow's list first and read second, so the passage is the last thing.

Words the church says at night

In Luke 2, Simeon is "righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel." In the temple he takes the child Jesus in his arms and blesses God, and in the King James he begins:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

He goes on, "for my eyes have seen your salvation." The Episcopal Compline sets this Song of Simeon between the antiphon "Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace." An old man's words at the end of a long wait became the last words of the church's day, a way of handing the day back to God. Bible verses for nightmares gives another night prayer, "Lighten our darkness," from Evening Prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

A blessing for the house

Numbers 6 gives the words Aaron and his sons were to use in blessing the people:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.

Sefaria's Siddur says, "It has become a widely accepted custom for parents to bless their children on the eve of Shabbos," with this blessing among the words used that Friday night. Deuteronomy 6:7 tells Israel to talk of God's words "when you lie down, and when you rise up." The Reformed Directory for Family-Worship names "prayer, reading the Scriptures, and singing of psalms," "morning and evening," and the Catholic Catechism calls the family a "domestic church." Our suggestion: say the blessing over each child by name before the light goes off. Sympathy cards uses the same words for a card.

Proverbs 3:24, often read at bedtime

In Proverbs 3 a father tells "My son" to "Keep sound wisdom and discretion," and then says:

When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

Matthew Henry reads the security as the fruit of keeping wisdom, and David Guzik at Enduring Word, an evangelical commentary, calls the sayings of Proverbs 3 "principles." It is a father's hope for the rest wisdom brings, to read as a blessing over a child or yourself.

People who lay down in hard places

In Acts 12, Herod has killed James and arrested Peter. The night before his trial, Peter is "sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains." An angel wakes him, the chains fall, and he walks out through an iron gate that opens by itself, saying, "Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel." In 1 Samuel 3 the boy Samuel lies down in the temple "where God’s ark was," hears his name, and at last answers, "Speak; for your servant hears." A prisoner asleep on the worst night of his life, and a boy who lay down in the dark and listened. Jacob's stone pillow is on moving to a new place, Jesus asleep in the boat on panic attacks.

For protection through the night

For protection, the traditions keep night prayers. The Episcopal Compline asks God to "guard us sleeping." The Orthodox Church in America's evening prayers say, "Grant me, O Lord, to pass through the sleep of this night in peace." Beside them, the Catholic Catechism says, "To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition" (2111). The prayers give you words many have prayed before for handing the night to God.

If you do not feel safe at home: in the United States, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is on 800-799-7233. In the UK, Refuge runs the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. In Australia, 1800RESPECT is on 1800 737 732.

Reading in bed, or on a phone

One person asked on Reddit's r/Christians, "do you think reading my Bible on my iPad can also prevent sleep? Since it’s on a screen". The NHS says to "relax at least 1 hour before bed," naming reading a book as one example, and Every Mind Matters says, "The blue light from screens can make it harder to fall asleep." A review of chronic insomnia treatment from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine describes using "the bed/bedroom for sleep only (no reading, watching TV, etc.)." The first is general advice; the second belongs to insomnia treatment. Two ways fit both: a paper Bible on the bedside table, or the passage read in a chair before bed.

When sleep needs a doctor

The NHS says: "See a GP if: changing your sleeping habits has not helped; you’ve had trouble sleeping for months; your insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope." A GP is a UK family doctor. In the United States, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says, "If not getting enough sleep is affecting your daily activities, talk to your doctor."

If your evenings have become the hardest part of the day and you are thinking about 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 United Kingdom and Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14. Anywhere else, Find A Helpline or Befrienders Worldwide lists services by country.

Where to go next

Tonight: tomorrow's list on paper, Psalm 63:6-7 with the verses around it read once, and Simeon's words as the last line. If something else is on your mind, Bible Nudge can take it in your own words and suggest a single passage. Find a passage.