Bible verses about strength and courage show a pattern that runs from Moses to Paul: God calls his people to be strong and courageous, and he always gives the reason, his own presence. Joshua heard it before crossing the Jordan, Solomon before building the temple, and Paul’s shipmates in a storm. These passages teach that biblical courage rests on God’s promises rather than on human confidence.
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:6-8 (KJV)
Moses commissions Joshua before all Israel, basing courage on the Lord who goes before them.
Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:6-9 (KJV)
God repeats be strong and of good courage three times, tying it to obedience and his presence.
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 28:20 (KJV)
David charges Solomon to be strong and courageous in building the temple, since God will not fail him.
Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
2 Chronicles 32:7-8 (KJV)
Hezekiah tells Judah that more is with them than with the enemy, for the Lord fights for them.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Psalms 27:1-3 (KJV)
David explains why he will not fear even when an army camps against him: the Lord is his strength.
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalms 31:24 (KJV)
Courage and strength are both given to those who hope in the Lord.
And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
Daniel 10:19 (KJV)
An angel touches the weak prophet and says, peace be unto thee, be strong, and Daniel is strengthened.
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
Haggai 2:4 (KJV)
God tells discouraged builders to be strong and work, for he is with them.
Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
Ezra 10:4 (KJV)
Ezra is urged to rise and act with courage, knowing others stand with him.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13 (KJV)
Paul sums up Christian courage: watch, stand fast in the faith, be strong.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Ephesians 6:10 (KJV)
Strength for believers is found in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)
God grounds courage in his presence, strength and upholding hand.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Psalms 118:6 (KJV)
Because the Lord is on his side, the psalmist fears no human threat.
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Acts 27:22-25 (KJV)
During a storm at sea, Paul urges courage because he believes God’s promise.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
Zechariah 8:9 (KJV)
God tells those rebuilding the temple, Let your hands be strong.
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 15:7 (KJV)
The prophet tells King Asa to be strong and not let his hands be weak, for his work will be rewarded.
Joshua 1:9’s repeated command pairs strength and courage directly, both tied to God’s promised presence.
Bible Verses For Courage and Strength and Bible Verses For Answered Prayer pick up threads that run through these verses.
Each passage is quoted from the KJV, and Blue Letter Bible has the whole text if you want the surrounding chapter.
This subject overlaps with Bible Verses About Growing in Faith and with Bible Verses About Loving Your Enemies.
Two nearby collections worth opening next are Bible Verses About Grief and Bible Verses About Grace.
Some of the same ground is covered in Bible Verses About Healing and Bible Verses About Being Thankful.
Readers of this page often go on to Bible Verses About Strength and Hope or Bible Verses For Strength and Courage.
To see how other translations render these lines, look them up on Bible Gateway.
Bible Hub collects commentary on every verse if you want to study one more closely.
Strength and courage are consistently paired in Scripture, both grounded in the same promise of presence.
These two qualities appear together repeatedly throughout Scripture, rarely addressed in complete isolation from one another — be strong and of good courage, a phrase that treats them almost as a single unit rather than two entirely separate requirements. This consistent pairing is worth noticing. Strength without courage can remain passive, unused; courage without strength can falter partway through. Together, they describe something more complete than either alone.
If you have been praying for one without the other, consider whether the specific situation you are facing genuinely calls for both together, as Scripture repeatedly frames them.
The repeated instruction toward strength and courage is phrased as command, not suggestion — direct instruction rather than a wish or hope expressed passively. This directness matters. It suggests both qualities are genuinely available to be taken up deliberately, not passively waited for until they arrive on their own. If you are waiting to simply feel strong and courageous before acting, this commanded framing suggests acting is itself part of how these qualities are accessed.
Many of Scripture’s clearest calls to strength and courage occur at the threshold of something new and uncertain — entering unfamiliar territory, taking on new responsibility, facing an unprecedented challenge. This pattern is worth remembering if you are currently standing at your own edge of something new. The uncertainty itself does not disqualify you from the strength and courage promised; it may be precisely the situation this promise was given for.
Before a moment that requires both strength and courage, it can help to ask directly: what is the actual next step, however small, and am I willing to take it despite not feeling fully ready? This question, answered honestly, often reveals that readiness was never actually the prerequisite — willingness was.
Whatever specific situation currently calls for both strength and courage from you, these verses are meant to be read as direct address to that actual circumstance, not distant encouragement for a more general, hypothetical difficulty. Read them again with your specific situation named clearly in mind, not left vague.
Needing to return to this list more than once does not reflect insufficient faith. It reflects the honest, ongoing nature of needing strength and courage repeatedly, across many different moments, not only once at the start of a single difficult season.
Whatever today asks of you, that same strength and courage remain available, offered again exactly when needed rather than expected to last indefinitely from a single earlier moment.
Go, exactly as you are.
Uncertain, unready, and still moving forward anyway.
That is what courage actually looks like, more often than not.
Someone watching you take this step, even if they never say so, may draw their own quiet courage from having witnessed it.
Esther never led an army, and her name rarely appears on lists of Bible verses about strength and courage, yet her story is one of the clearest pictures of courage in Scripture. A royal decree had been issued to destroy the Jews in the Persian empire, and Esther, a Jewish queen whose background was still hidden, was the only person close enough to the king to intervene. Approaching him uninvited could mean death. Her cousin Mordecai pressed her with a famous question: “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).
Esther did not rush in on a wave of feeling. She asked the Jews of Shushan to fast for her three days, and she and her maidens fasted too. Then she gave her answer: “so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). Among the Bible verses about strength and courage, this line is unusual because it contains no guarantee of success. Esther acted before she knew how the story would end.
God’s name never appears in the book of Esther, yet his care is visible in every turn of the plot. Esther’s courage grew in community, through shared fasting, and it was sustained by a sense of calling rather than confidence in her own position. Bible verses about strength and courage often speak to leaders and soldiers, but Esther shows the same call reaching someone whose main weapon was a quiet, costly willingness to speak up for others.
Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild a broken city wall, and almost at once he faced mockery, threats, and plots. His response in Nehemiah 4:9 is a model of balanced courage: “we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them.” He neither ignored the danger nor let it stop the work. He prayed, and he posted guards.
When the builders grew discouraged, he stood before them and said, “Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren” (Nehemiah 4:14). From then on, the workers built with one hand and held a weapon with the other (Nehemiah 4:17). This picture belongs alongside the other courage passages because it shows courage as a daily habit. It was a steady choice to keep working under pressure, not one grand gesture.
Later, enemies tried to lure Nehemiah into hiding in the temple to save his life. He refused: “Should such a man as I flee?” (Nehemiah 6:11). He saw that fear was the real trap. The wall was finished in fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15), and even the surrounding nations recognized that the work had been done by God. Few passages show so clearly how prayer and practical wisdom work together.
Many people picture courage as the absence of fear, and they read Bible verses about strength and courage that way. The night before the cross shows something deeper. In Gethsemane, Jesus told his disciples his soul was “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38). He fell on his face and prayed that the cup might pass from him. Luke records that his sweat was “as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). This was not calm composure. It was real anguish.
Yet the same prayer ends in surrender: “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Luke adds that an angel appeared from heaven, strengthening him (Luke 22:43). Then Jesus rose, woke his disciples, and walked out to meet the soldiers who had come to arrest him. These texts reach their deepest meaning here. Strength was given in prayer, and courage was the choice to obey while feeling the full weight of what obedience would cost.
This matters for anyone who feels afraid and assumes that fear disqualifies them. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that Jesus was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin, so he understands human weakness from the inside. Read in the light of Gethsemane, these texts are not asking you to stop trembling. They invite you to pray honestly, receive the strength God gives, and take the next obedient step.
After Pentecost, Peter and John were arrested for preaching and brought before the same council that had condemned Jesus. Only weeks earlier Peter had denied knowing him. Now he spoke plainly, and the rulers noticed: when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized they were unlearned and ordinary men, “they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Their courage came from time spent with Christ, not from education or status. That link between closeness to Jesus and boldness runs through the Bible verses about strength and courage in Acts.
Once released, the believers did not simply ask for protection. They asked God to grant his servants “that with all boldness they may speak thy word” (Acts 4:29). When they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). Among the Bible verses about strength and courage in the New Testament, this prayer stands out because it asks for courage itself. It is a prayer anyone can borrow.
Acts 4:29-31 and Esther 4:14-16 are natural starting points, along with 2 Timothy 1:7, which reminds believers that God has not given “the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” These words keep love at the center, so boldness never turns harsh. For more on how trust and bravery go together, read these Bible verses about faith and courage, and for practical daily help see Bible Verses For Strength and Courage.
Deuteronomy 31 is a farewell scene. Moses is a hundred and twenty years old, he has been told he will not cross the Jordan, and he stands before a nation he has dragged through forty years of desert. He could have used the moment to vent. Instead he says, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Think about what it costs a leader to say that. He is encouraging the people who will walk into the land without him, and then he turns to Joshua and says nearly the same thing privately. The encouragement is not built on Moses staying around. It rests on the fact that God goes with them. Plenty of us have watched a parent, a coach or a founder step back, and felt the floor tilt. This passage shows how to hand courage on: point past yourself, and let the next person hear that the promise was never tied to you.
Most people remember Joshua 1:9 on its own: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” But the verse right before it gives the practical method. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night” (Joshua 1:8). Courage is surrounded by instruction.
I like how undramatic that is. Joshua was about to lead an army across a flooded river into walled cities, and the advice includes saying Scripture aloud and turning it over in his mind. A person who has done that for months is not talking himself into a mood on the morning of the battle. He is drawing on something stored. If you know a hard conversation or decision is coming next week, you might start now, reading a short passage each evening and repeating one line while you do the dishes. Bravery is easier to find when it has been rehearsed.
In 1 Chronicles 28 an aging David gathers the leaders of Israel and then speaks to his young son. David had wanted to build the temple himself and was told no. So he spends his last years collecting gold, stone and detailed plans for someone else to carry out. To Solomon he says, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work” (1 Chronicles 28:20).
The two words I would underline are “and do it.” Encouragement that never becomes action stays pleasant and useless. Solomon was young, the job was enormous, and every eye in the nation would be on him. David does not tell him he is naturally gifted. He tells him God will remain through to the finish. That is a different kind of confidence, and it suits ordinary people facing big tasks, like caring for a sick parent or starting a small business with borrowed money. Strength is promised for the whole stretch, including the dull middle where nobody is clapping.
Second Chronicles 32 opens with the Assyrian army, the most feared force of its day, camped around Judah. Hezekiah has already strengthened the walls and diverted the water supply. Then he gathers the officers and says, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him” (2 Chronicles 32:7).
On paper the king was wrong. Judah had fewer soldiers. What he meant is in the next verse: “With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles” (2 Chronicles 32:8). He is not denying the threat or telling people to ignore the preparation they have done. He is changing what he counts. The text adds that the people rested upon his words, and that settled mood is worth noticing. A leader who names the truth calmly can quiet a room faster than one who shouts that everything is fine.
Daniel 10 shows a prophet at the end of his strength. He has been fasting and grieving for three weeks over a troubling vision. When a heavenly messenger finally appears, Daniel collapses and says there is no strength left in him. The messenger touches him, lifts him up, and says, “O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong” (Daniel 10:19).
The double “be strong” is gentle, almost like a nurse coaxing someone to sit up. It comes after the touch, not before. First Daniel is steadied, then he is told what to do. That order matters when you are exhausted and someone keeps urging you to be brave. Sometimes the first step is to be held up by another person or by God before you can hold anything yourself. If courage feels out of reach tonight, a short prayer may be enough: Lord, I am out of strength, so please steady me, and tell me only the next thing. And if fear has been sitting on you for weeks, talk to a doctor or counselor as well; seeking help is a sensible way of being brave.
Keep exploring with these related pages: Bible Verses For Strength and Courage, Bible Verses For Courage and Strength, Bible Verses About Courage and Strength, Bible Verses About Prayer and Strength and Bible Verses For God Giving Strength.
For deeper study, Bible Gateway, Bible Hub and Bible Study Tools are all free to use.
Joshua 1:9's repeated command pairs strength and courage directly, both tied to God's promised presence.
This page brings together 17 King James Version references about strength and Courage, drawn from 8 different books of the Bible.
Joshua 1:9 is one of the verses about strength and Courage referenced in this collection, alongside Esther 4:14.
Yes, the verses referenced on this page, including Joshua 1:9, are quoted according to the King James Version (KJV), and are suitable for daily reading, memorization, or devotional use.
Beyond the references highlighted on this page, strength and Courage appears throughout Scripture in books such as Joshua, Esther, Nehemiah, Matthew, Luke; this collection focuses on some of the clearest examples.
