Eighteen verses for heartbreak, grouped by what broke it: betrayal, tears that will not stop, and the verses about healing.
Two verses do most of the work on this subject. Psalm 34:18 says the LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and Psalm 147:3 says he heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds. Around them are psalms that say how hearts get broken: a close friend turns, love is repaid with hatred, reproach piles up and no comforter comes. The psalms speak of heartbreak as a wound that needs binding.
The first section holds the verses people search for by their words. The next two follow the cause of the heartbreak, and the last gathers the healing verses. Tick any that help and print them on one sheet. For grief after a death, the grief page is a closer fit.
The verses people look for by their wording. Each is short enough to learn.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart. The second half adds a crushed spirit, so the verse covers both. The King James Version has nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
You will not despise a broken and contrite heart. The heading ties this psalm to David after Bathsheba, so this broken heart is sorrow over his own wrongdoing.
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,neither has he hidden his face from him;but when he cried to him, he heard.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
He has not despised the affliction of the afflicted, nor hidden his face, and when he cried, he heard. It comes in the same psalm that opens with my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.
For betrayal by a friend, a partner or someone close. The psalms say plainly that this hurts more than an enemy.
But it was you, a man like me,my companion, and my familiar friend.
But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
The verse before says it was not an enemy, then I could have endured it. It was you, my companion, and my familiar friend. Verse 14 adds that they walked in God's house together.
Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,who ate bread with me,has lifted up his heel against me.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
My own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me. John 13:18 in the New Testament quotes its second half, about lifting up the heel.
for I am poor and needy.My heart is wounded within me.
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
My heart is wounded within me. Earlier the psalm says why: in return for my love, they are my adversaries (verse 4).
Heartbreak that shows as tears and heaviness, with no one to turn to.
Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;for comforters, but I found none.
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
The only verse in the psalms where the writer says his own heart is broken: reproach has broken my heart. He looked for comforters and found none.
I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.I am like broken pottery.
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Forgotten like a dead man, like broken pottery. The King James Version has like a broken vessel.
You count my wanderings.You put my tears into your container.Aren’t they in your book?
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
You put my tears into your container, or in the King James Version, into thy bottle. God counts the wanderings and keeps the tears, and the verse asks: aren't they in your book.
I am faint and severely bruised.I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.
I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart. The next verse says the groaning is not hidden from God.
Verses about mending. They describe healing as God's work, not something the reader has to manage alone.
He heals the broken in heart,and binds up their wounds.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds. The verse before says he gathers the outcasts, and the verse after says he counts the stars, so the same God does the small care and the large.
My flesh and my heart fails,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
My flesh and my heart fails. The psalm admits the failing, then names a strength that is not the writer's own: God is the strength of my heart.
Trust in him at all times, you people.Pour out your heart before him.God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Pour out your heart before him. The instruction is to empty the heart out to God, not to hold it together.
Verses about a soul being restored, calmed and lifted after sorrow, not only a heart being bound.
He restores my soul.He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
He restores my soul. The verse sits between green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death, so the restoring comes before the dark part of the psalm.
You have turned my mourning into dancing for me.You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
You have turned my mourning into dancing and removed my sackcloth. The writer tells it as something already done, looking back on the sorrow.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me,your comforts delight my soul.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul. It names the crowded mind that often comes with emotional pain.
Why are you in despair, my soul?Why are you disturbed within me?Hope in God! For I shall still praise him,the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
The writer asks his own soul why it is in despair, then tells it to hope in God. The same question is asked in verse 5 and again in Psalm 43:5.
Return to your rest, my soul,for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Return to your rest, my soul. Earlier the writer says he found trouble and sorrow (verse 3), so this is a soul being told it may rest again.
Psalm 34:18. The World English Bible reads: the LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. The King James Version reads: the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. The heading of Psalm 34 attributes it to David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech.
Psalm 147:3: he heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. The psalm has no heading and names no author. It begins and ends with Praise the LORD, and the healing line sits among verses about rebuilding Jerusalem, rain, snow and food for young ravens.
Psalm 34:18 and Psalm 147:3 are the two verses that name a broken heart directly. For heartbreak caused by a friend or partner, Psalm 55:12 to 14 is closer.
Psalm 55 and Psalm 41 both describe a close friend turning against the writer. Psalm 41:9 is quoted in John 13:18.
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 69:20: reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. Psalm 109:22 says my heart is wounded within me.
Psalm 51:17 speaks of a broken and contrite heart, but the heading ties the psalm to David after Bathsheba, so it is about sorrow over wrongdoing rather than heartbreak from loss.
Psalms for Grief and the Loss of a Loved OnePsalms for DepressionPsalms for LonelinessPsalms for Comfort and StrengthPsalms for Healing and StrengthPsalms About Friendship