One person posted on Reddit's r/Christianity, "Anxiety is terrible. Everything can be fine but you feel like you're on the edge of a cliff." In the same Reddit thread, a commenter sharing a short prayer added, "Say it slowly and repeat for as long as you need to." If you want one line to hold right now, this is the one Bible Nudge offers for anxiety, the first sentence of Matthew 11:28-30:
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
If you only have a minute
The line
Matthew 11:28, said once, slowly, perhaps on a long breath out.
The question with it
"What burden are you trying to carry alone?"
Shorter still
Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you."
Where to keep it
A lock screen, a note by the kettle or a card in a pocket, with its reference.
If it has gone on a long time
The NHS suggests seeing a GP, a family doctor. Elsewhere, see your own.
The line, and what it belongs to
Jesus says it just after thanking the Father, in verses 25 to 27, for revealing these things to "infants" rather than to the wise. It is an invitation to come to him and learn from him, and two verses finish it:
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The King James Version has verse 28 as:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Nothing in it sets a schedule for anxiety to end. One way to use it is to say verse 28 once, slowly, perhaps on a long breath out, and then stay with the question that goes with it: "What burden are you trying to carry alone?" You do not have to answer it aloud, or at all. Bible verses for anxiety and overthinking reads the passage closely.
Somewhere you will see it before the day starts.
Other short lines, and who first said them
Each is given with its speaker, so you know what you are carrying.
- 1 Peter 5:7, "casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you," finishes a sentence
that begins in verse 6: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." It comes from a letter to a church. David Guzik at Enduring Word, an evangelical commentary, heads verses 5 to 7 "A promise for the humble," reading verse 7 inside Peter's teaching on humility. Carrying verses 6 and 7 together keeps the sentence whole.
- Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you," is the site's passage for fear,
David's prayer when the Philistines seized him in Gath. The fear comes first, and the trust arrives while it is still there.
- Psalm 94:19, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul," is a
psalmist praying under wicked rulers, and what the Bible says about anxiety reads its words.
- Psalm 139:23, "Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts," follows the
psalmist's words about those who oppose God in verses 21 and 22. It is a prayer that hands the thoughts to God rather than sorting them first.
- Mark 9:24, "I believe. Help my unbelief!" is a father crying out for his son, and
Bible verses for doubting God reads it.
Prayers the church has kept
Some of the shortest lines people carry are prayers the church has kept. The Orthodox Church in America calls the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner," "the most normal form of unceasing prayer in the Orthodox tradition." It traces the last words to the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14, whose own prayer was "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!", and describes repeating it "whatever one is doing." It adds that the fuller bodily method belongs with a spiritual guide. In the Reddit thread above, one commenter offered the same words as a "breath prayer", set out in four short lines.
John Cassian, in Conference 10, has Abbot Isaac give Psalm 70:1, "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me," as a formula "for keeping up continual recollection of God." The World English Bible has it as "Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh."
The Catholic Catechism describes meditation as engaging "thought, imagination, emotion, and desire" (2708), and The Navigators, an evangelical ministry, calls Scripture memory, learning the Bible's words by heart, "an excellent way to grow in your relationship with God." Both describe practices of prayer.
A line can be shorter than a verse. Another commenter in that Reddit thread wrote of "one thing I leaned on so strongly after I was let go from my job a few years back: Thy Will Be Done." Those are three words from the Lord's Prayer.
Something to take with you on the way out.
The short commands, and who they were spoken to
Several short verses people send are commands, and read alone they can sound like a test. Each one had a speaker and hearers.
- "In nothing be anxious" (Philippians 4:6) is Paul writing to the church at Philippi, just after
"The Lord is at hand." The page on Philippians 4 and anxiety reads the whole passage.
- "Be still" (Psalm 46:10) is God speaking over nations at war, in a psalm sung by a people, and
Bible verses for stress stays with it.
- "Don’t you be afraid" (Isaiah 41:10) is God speaking to Israel, called "my servant" in the verses
before.
- "Don’t let your heart be troubled" (John 14:27) is Jesus to his disciples the night before he
died, and Bible verses for peace of mind reads it.
- "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:9) is God to Joshua before the Jordan crossing, read on
The record behind this site's anxiety passage is clear that an anxious person has not failed to trust God, and these lines can be held that way.
Where to keep it, and how to send it
Write the line with its reference, so the passage is one search away: a phone lock screen, a sticky note by the kettle, a card in a coat pocket. For a friend, send one line with its reference and a sentence of your own, and point them to the fuller reading of Matthew 11.
What people are told, and what sits alongside
The same Reddit thread records answers that made things heavier. One commenter described a common response as "like someone saying 'Have you tried not being anxious?'", and another reply read "Only Jesus can heal you if only you believe in him!" A third said medication was what made them feel like "me" again. A short line, carried in its setting, can sit alongside a doctor and medication as company rather than a replacement.
Late, when a long list is too much to read.
When anxiety needs more than a line
The NHS, a UK service, describes generalized anxiety disorder as a condition where you often feel "very anxious about lots of different things," and lists "low mood or depression" among what can come with it. It says "See a GP if: you think you might have generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)" or "you've been diagnosed with GAD and treatments are not helping." A GP is a family doctor; outside the UK, see your own. Mind, a UK charity, says anxiety can become a problem "if it impacts your ability to live your life as fully as you want to."
If fear is part of it, the American Psychological Association separates anxiety, "a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat," from fear, "an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat." Bible verses for fear of the future is written for the first. For a sudden wave, Bible verses for panic attacks has short lines for the attack itself.
Questions people ask
What is the shortest of these to learn by heart? Psalm 56:3 is eleven words in the World English Bible, and Matthew 11:28 is a single sentence. Either fits on a lock screen with its reference.
Why is Philippians 4:6 not the main passage? The record for anxiety set Philippians 4:4-9 aside because its commands can be heard as pressure without the fuller passage around them. It remains a candidate for a separate record.
Which translation is quoted here? The World English Bible, a modern English translation, with the King James Version given for Matthew 11:28.
Where to go next
For something else, describe it in your own words, and Bible Nudge can suggest a single passage with the verses around it. Find a passage.
If anxiety 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 United Kingdom and Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. Anywhere else, Befrienders Worldwide lists crisis centers by country.
For now, read Matthew 11:28-30 with the verses around it, and say verse 28 once, slowly.
Words that come up here
Tap a term to see what it means.
Yoke. A wooden beam that joins two animals to share a load. Jesus uses the word in Matthew 11:29-30.