Sixteen verses for a birthday, your own or someone else's, grouped by what the day is for.
No psalm was written for a birthday, but many speak about the things a birthday marks. Psalm 139 says the writer was knit together in the womb and that every day was written in God's book before any of them came. Psalm 90 asks to be taught to count our days. Psalm 71 looks back from old age to trust that began at birth. Others are blessings spoken over another person, which makes them fit a card.
The verses are grouped into four parts: the day you were born, another year of life, blessings to give someone else, and birthdays later in life. Tick the ones you want and print them, or copy one into a card.
Verses that go back before the first birthday, to the womb and to birth itself.
For you formed my inmost being.You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
You knit me together in my mother's womb. The verse credits God with the making of a person before anyone saw them.
Your eyes saw my body.In your book they were all written,the days that were ordained for me,when as yet there were none of them.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
The days that were ordained for me were written in God's book when as yet there were none of them. On a birthday, it looks at the whole span of a life at once.
I have relied on you from the womb.You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb.I will always praise you.
By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
I have relied on you from the womb. The speaker traces trust back to birth and answers it with praise.
I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb.You are my God since my mother bore me.
I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
You are my God since my mother bore me. It places the start of the relationship at the day of birth.
For your own birthday, when the day invites looking back and ahead.
So teach us to count our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. A birthday is a day of counting, and this verse asks for the counting to lead somewhere.
My times are in your hand.Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
My times are in your hand. The line is short enough to write inside a card, and hands the coming year over rather than predicting it.
Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness,that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. It asks for gladness across a whole life, not one day.
What will I give to the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
What will I give to the LORD for all his benefits toward me. The verse is a question of thanks, suited to looking back on a year.
Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. The verse speaks of every day to come, not only this one.
Lines that can be written in a card or said over another person.
May he grant you your heart’s desire,and fulfill all your counsel.
Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
May he grant you your heart's desire, and fulfill all your counsel. Psalm 20 is written as a blessing over someone else, which is why it reads naturally in a card.
This is the day that the LORD has made.We will rejoice and be glad in it!
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day that the LORD has made. In the psalm the day is one of rescue and celebration rather than a birthday, but its words fit any day being marked.
who satisfies your desire with good things,so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The picture is of strength coming back, a gentle line for someone growing older.
You crown the year with your bounty.Your carts overflow with abundance.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
You crown the year with your bounty. The psalm is speaking of a harvest year, and the image fits the close of a year of someone's life.
For a 60th, 70th, 80th or older, where the psalms speak directly about age.
They will still produce fruit in old age.They will be full of sap and green,
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
They will still produce fruit in old age. The verse refuses to treat age as the end of usefulness.
God, you have taught me from my youth.Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.
O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. It is a whole life reviewed in two sentences.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.
I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. A promise made by the speaker, not a request, for as many years as are left.
Psalm 90:10 is the one place in the psalms that names seventy and eighty years. It is honest rather than cheerful: it says the years pass quickly and we fly away. The psalm's heading attributes it to Moses. Two verses later it turns to a request, teach us to count our days, and it closes by asking God to establish the work of our hands. Read together, those verses suit a milestone birthday that wants to be taken seriously.
Psalm 139:13 to 16 speaks of being made in the womb and of every day being written before it came. Psalm 90:12 asks God to teach us to count our days.
Psalm 20:4 is written as a blessing on another person: may he grant you your heart's desire. Psalm 31:15, my times are in your hand, is also short enough for a card.
Not in its setting. In Psalm 118 the day is one of rescue and celebration, but the words, this is the day that the LORD has made, fit any day worth marking.
Psalm 139:16 says your eyes saw my body, and the days ordained for me were written in your book when as yet there were none of them. Psalm 71:6 and Psalm 22:10 also speak of trust from the womb.
Psalm 90:10 names seventy years, or eighty by reason of strength. Psalm 92:14 says the righteous will still produce fruit in old age.
Psalms for the New YearPsalms of Thanksgiving and ThankfulnessPsalms for Blessing and FavorPsalms of Happiness and JoyPsalms About God's FaithfulnessPsalms for Kids