Bible verses for new year

A new year prompts both looking back and looking ahead. Scripture offers words for that hinge moment: promises of hope, calls to leave the past, confessions of daily mercy, and wisdom about the changing seasons of life. People reach for these passages not for their original settings but for what they say about beginnings, renewal, and trusting God with time itself.

1. Jeremiah 29:11-13

   “plans to prosper you”

   ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. ¹²You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

   Read for the explicit promise of hope and a future, and for the invitation to call on and seek God in the year to come.

   The passage is about this

   Worth knowing: The promise was made to the exiles in Babylon about a seventy-year captivity, not as a universal guarantee of personal prosperity. Its lasting value is the assurance that God can be found when sought with the whole heart.

   Read Jeremiah 29 in full →

2. Isaiah 43:18-19

   “I am doing a new thing”

   ¹⁸“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

   Read for the ringing declaration that God is doing a new thing, making a way where there seems to be none and bringing rivers to dry ground.

   The passage is about this

   Worth knowing: This word was first spoken to Israel in exile, promising restoration through a new exodus. It is not a blank check for any fresh start, though its imagery of divine innovation is genuinely offered to God's people.

   Read Isaiah 43 in full →

3. Philippians 3:13-14

   “straining toward what is ahead”

   ¹³Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

   Read for the call to forget what lies behind and strain toward what lies ahead, treating the new year as a race toward God's calling.

   The passage is about this

   Worth knowing: Paul is speaking about his own pursuit of the resurrection, not about psycho-spiritual self-improvement. Forgetting the past here means refusing to rely on his former religious credentials, not ignoring losses or mistakes.

   Read Philippians 3 in full →

4. Lamentations 3:22-23

   “new every morning”

   ²²It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. ²³They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

   Read for the assurance that God's mercies are renewed every morning, making it a natural verse for the first day of a year.

   The passage is about this

   Worth knowing: These verses sit inside a book of intense sorrow, spoken by someone who is still afflicted. The point is not that hardships stop but that God's steadfast love keeps the sufferer from being consumed.

   Read Lamentations 3 in full →

5. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

   “a time for everything”

   ¹For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: ²a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; ³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

   Read for a poetic acknowledgment that every season has its appointed time, inviting trust in God's timing as another year begins.

   The passage is about this

   Worth knowing: The passage is a meditation on the fixed rhythms of life under a sovereign God, not a set of recommendations to pursue each activity. In its book, it underscores the limits of human control rather than offering encouragement to embrace every season eagerly.

   Read Ecclesiastes 3 in full →

Scripture quoted from the World English Bible. The commentary is AI-generated and labelled by what kind of claim it makes; it is not the ruling of any tradition.