Patience in Scripture is rarely passive. The words translated as patience and longsuffering carry the sense of holding steady under weight rather than waiting pleasantly for something nice.
These twenty Bible verses about patience are grouped by the kinds of waiting people actually do: waiting on God, enduring a long season, being patient with people, waiting for a promise that has not arrived, and what the waiting is said to produce.
Waiting on God
The Psalms return to this constantly, usually from the middle of the wait rather than after it — which is why they are useful company.
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Psalm 27:14 (KJV)
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
Psalm 40:1 (KJV)
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.”
Psalm 37:7 (KJV)
“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.”
Psalm 130:5 (KJV)
Staying steady in a long season
These speak to the middle stretch, where the initial resolve has worn off and nothing visible has changed yet.
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Hebrews 10:36 (KJV)
“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”
Lamentations 3:25 (KJV)
Patience with people
Longsuffering in the New Testament is usually about persons rather than circumstances — which is generally the harder of the two.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.”
Galatians 5:22 (KJV)
“Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”
Colossians 1:11 (KJV)
“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.”
Romans 12:12 (KJV)
When the promise has not arrived
Scripture is honest that some waits are long enough to feel like refusals, and it addresses that directly rather than talking around it.
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.”
Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV)
“Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.”
Micah 7:7 (KJV)
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward.”
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Romans 8:25 (KJV)
What the waiting produces
The claim running through these is that patience is not merely endured but formed — and that it is made rather than found.
“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
James 1:3–4 (KJV)
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.”
James 5:7 (KJV)
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
“It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:26 (KJV)
Keeping one verse close
Long waits need something that stays put. A verse marked at the page — with a card, or a full-grain leather Bible bookmark — meets you each time the Bible opens, which over months does more than a verse read once and admired.
Free Bible and prayer tools
For a slow, steady rhythm through a waiting season, the short Bible reading plans by topic ask little and finish. The private prayer journal is worth keeping through a long wait — looking back at what you prayed six months ago is often where patience finally makes sense — and Bible verses for every emotion covers the weariness that comes with it.
Waiting is easier to bear with something to wait for, which is what verses about hope are for. When patience with a particular person has run out, see verses about anger.
Patience with other people
Waiting on circumstances is one kind of patience; waiting on a person is another, and usually harder. Scripture puts most of its weight here — patience is listed as fruit of the Spirit precisely because it is exercised on people who are testing it.
“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” — Ephesians 4:2
“He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly” — Proverbs 14:29
“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” — James 1:19
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind” — 1 Corinthians 13:4
Patience with children
Parents search for these verses more than any other group, usually late in a long day. The Bible speaks to the parent before it speaks to the child.
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” — Ephesians 6:4
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” — Proverbs 22:6
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” — Galatians 5:22–23
A verse for the waiting
Patience is mostly the discipline of being still. The “Be Still and Know” leather Bible bookmark carries Psalm 46:10 — “Be still, and know that I am God” — debossed into full-grain leather, a bookmark for the season when the answer has not come yet. See all leather Bible bookmarks.
Common questions about bible verses about patience
What does the Bible say about patience?
Scripture presents patience as something formed rather than summoned — James 1:3–4 says the testing of faith “worketh patience” — and as active endurance under weight rather than passive waiting. It is also listed as fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), meaning it is grown rather than achieved.
What is a good Bible verse about waiting on God?
Isaiah 40:31 is the passage most people return to: those who wait on the Lord “shall renew their strength.” Psalm 27:14 is shorter and blunter, and repeats the instruction twice in one verse for good reason.
How do I stay patient when nothing is changing?
Habakkuk 2:3 speaks directly to that: “though it tarry, wait for it.” Galatians 6:9 addresses the weariness rather than the timeline — “let us not be weary in well doing” — which is usually the more immediate problem.
Which translation are these verses in?
The King James Version (KJV), which is in the public domain.
What does the Bible say about being patient with others?
Ephesians 4:2 calls it “forbearing one another in love” — putting up with someone deliberately, as an act of love rather than tolerance. James 1:19 gives the practical order: quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
What is a good Bible verse about patience with children?
Ephesians 6:4 speaks to parents directly, warning against provoking a child to anger. Galatians 5:22–23 is the wider promise: patience (“longsuffering”) is fruit the Spirit grows, not a temperament you either have or lack.
Is patience the same as waiting?
Not quite. The Bible’s word for patience carries the sense of staying steady under something — pressure, provocation, delay. Waiting is the situation; patience is how you hold up inside it.