37 Bible Verses about Rest

God created us for work. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Work gives us a sense of purpose and well-being, but it is not healthy to work all of the time. At times, we can become consumed with work, leading to increased stress and straining our relationships.

God calls us to take a break from work. The Sabbath is a day of rest. God set apart the seventh day as a holy day, to help us enter God’s rest and experience restoration. Some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were so concerned about keeping the Sabbath, they prevented any form of work from taking place, even healing those who were suffering. Jesus corrected this misunderstand of the Sabbath on several occasions (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 13:10-17; John 9:14), teaching people that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

The Sabbath is a gift of God’s grace, that helps us to experience life more fully by setting apart time to reflect on God as the center of our life. God is the one who provides for us. He is the one who heals and restores us. He is the one who saves us from our sin, and invites us to share in His rest by placing our faith in the finished work of our savior, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:9).

The following Bible verses about rest, call us to find our rest in God and in the finished work of Jesus. When we rest in God we deepen our relationship with Him. We increase our dependence on God for both His material and spiritual provision. Glorifying God should be the central aspect of both our work and our rest. God promises that if we turn to Him for rest, He will restore our souls. I hope that these Bible verses will help you find rest in God.

God Will Give You Rest

Exodus 33:14

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 4:8

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 23:1-2

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 127:1-2

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.

Jeremiah 31:25

For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Jesus Tells His Disciples to Rest

Mark 6:31

And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

Be still before the Lord

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!

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 62:1

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

Sabbath Rest

Genesis 2:2-3

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 23:12

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Exodus 34:21

Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Leviticus 25:4

But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Isaiah 30:15

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Isaiah 58:13-14

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Mark 2:27

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Hebrews 4:9-11

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

No Rest for the Wicked

Isaiah 48:22

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

Revelation 14:11

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Rest through Faith and Obedience

Proverbs 1:33

But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.

Proverbs 17:1

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

Proverbs 19:23

The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Ecclesiastes 5:12

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

Isaiah 26:3

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Jeremiah 6:16

Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”

Hebrews 4:1-3

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest.

Hebrews 4:11

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Revelation 14:13

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

A Prayer for Rest

Heavenly Father,

You are the Lord of the Sabbath. You created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day you rested. You made the Sabbath holy, a day set apart to rest from my work, a day set apart to honor you.

Lord, I confess that at times I become consumed with work. I become prideful, forgetting that You are the one who sustains me. You created the Sabbath so that your children would find rest and restoration in You. Help me to step away from the bustle of the day to rest in you.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for saving me from my sins, so that I can find my rest in you. Thank you for leading me to a quiet place, beside still waters, where I can drink deeply from Your presence. Fill me with your Spirit. Draw me close to you, so I might find peace in your presence, and rest for my soul.

Amen.

Additional Resources for Rest

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

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