Fifteen verses for travel, from setting out to arriving, with the full text and a printable card.
Several psalms speak about travel directly, on foot, by sea and through the wilderness. Psalm 121 talks about a foot that will not slip and a keeper who does not sleep, and ends with your going out and your coming in. Psalm 107 describes sailors in a storm brought to their harbour. Psalm 84 blesses those whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage. None of them promise a trip without trouble. They speak of company on the way.
The verses follow the order of a trip: before you leave, travelling far or by sea, on the road, and arriving or sleeping away from home. Tick the ones you want and print a card for a bag, a car or a traveller.
Verses to read or pray at the door, before setting out.
The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in,from this time forward, and forever more.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in. The verse covers both ends of a trip, the leaving and the return.
He will not allow your foot to be moved.He who keeps you will not slumber.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. The verse speaks of footing, and of someone awake while the traveller is not.
For he will put his angels in charge of you,to guard you in all your ways.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
The psalm says angels are put in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. The word ways is plural, covering every road rather than one.
You search out my path and my lying down,and are acquainted with all my ways.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. The route and the night's rest are both already known.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.I will counsel you with my eye on you.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. The speaker is not named, but the voice changes here to one promising guidance on the way rather than a map in advance.
For long flights, crossings and trips far from home.
even there your hand will lead me,and your right hand will hold me.
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Even there your hand will lead me. The verse before it imagines taking the wings of the dawn and settling at the far side of the sea, and says God is there too.
He makes the storm a calm,so that its waves are still.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Psalm 107 describes those who go down to the sea in ships and cry out in the storm.
Then they are glad because it is calm,so he brings them to their desired haven.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
He brings them to their desired haven. The sea passage in the psalm ends with arrival, and with the sailors glad because it is calm.
For the road, the long drive and the pilgrimage, where the travelling is the point.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage. The blessing is on the travellers, not only on the arrival.
They go from strength to strength.Every one of them appears before God in Zion.
They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
They go from strength to strength. The travellers in Psalm 84 grow stronger along the way rather than wearing out, and every one of them reaches Zion.
My steps have held fast to your paths.My feet have not slipped.
Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. The heading calls it a prayer by David, and it speaks in the language of walking.
He led them also by a straight way,that they might go to a city to live in.
And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in. It is spoken of people lost in the desert who found their way.
Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning,for I trust in you.Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,for I lift up my soul to you.
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk. A morning prayer that asks for direction on the day's road.
For the first night in a strange place and the moment of arrival.
In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep,for you alone, LORD, make me live in safety.
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me live in safety. It suits a hotel room or a borrowed bed.
Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem!
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Our feet are standing within your gates. The psalm speaks of arriving in Jerusalem, and the line captures the relief of having arrived anywhere.
No psalm speaks of flying in the modern sense. Psalm 139:9 and 10 come closest: if I take the wings of the dawn and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me. The point of the passage is that there is no distance at which God is absent, which is why it suits a long flight or a move to another country.
Psalm 121 is the most direct. It speaks of a keeper who does not sleep, a foot that will not slip, and in verse 8 of your going out and your coming in.
Psalm 84:5 blesses those who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage, and verse 7 says they go from strength to strength. Psalm 121 carries the heading A Song of Ascents and is written to someone on the move.
Psalm 107:23 to 30 describes those who go down to the sea in ships, the storm they meet, and their arrival at their desired haven.
Psalm 121:8 is written to another person: the LORD will keep your going out and your coming in. Psalm 91:11 is also addressed to you and speaks of being guarded in all your ways.
Psalm 121:8 names the coming in as well as the going out, and Psalm 107:30 ends a sea voyage with arrival at the desired haven.
Psalm Verses for ProtectionPsalms for Guidance and DirectionPsalms for FearPsalms for Sleep and Night PrayerPsalms for the MorningPsalms for Help