32 Bible Verses about Patience

Patience is hard to come by in today’s fast paced world, but it is a key virtue for developing Godly character and spiritual fruitfulness.

These Bible verses about patience teach us that God is patient with us, despite our sin and inadequacy. We are to wait patiently upon the Lord for strength in times of hardship. 

As we learn to surrender our lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit, God produces patience in us allowing us to endure hardships with gratitude. 

We are also instructed to be patient when serving God and others, trusting that in due time God will produce a spiritual harvest for those who are faithful and patient in serving Him.

God is Patient

Psalm 103:8

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Isaiah 30:18

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Joel 2:13

And rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Romans 2:4

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

2 Peter 3:8-9

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Wait on the Lord

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 40:1

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 37:7

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Isaiah 40:31 

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Romans 8:25

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

How to Become a Person of Patient Character

Proverbs 14:29

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Proverbs 15:18

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

Proverbs 16:32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

Ephesians 4:2-3

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Colossians 3:12

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

James 1:19

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Be Patient When Serving Others

1 Thessalonians 5:14

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

1 Timothy 1:16

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Spiritual Fruitfulness comes with Faithfulness and Patience

Luke 8:15

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Romans 2:7

To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Colossians 1:10-11

So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.

Hebrews 6:10-12

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:15

And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

Waiting on the Return of Christ

Matthew 24:42

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

James 5:7-8

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Revelation 3:11

I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.