Mother’s Day is a good day for a lot of people and a hard one for many more: those who lost a mother, lost a child, could not have one, or have a mother they cannot safely call. These verses work for the card, and the last of them is for the person who will be quietly getting through Sunday. If that is you, you are allowed to skip church that week.
For a Mother’s Day card
Proverbs 31:28
Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
World English Bible (WEB)
“Her children rise up and call her blessed.” From the poem about the excellent wife, and this line is the one about being seen by your kids. For a straightforward card to a mother who did the work, it is the traditional choice and it still lands.
Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.
having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
One line before the verse is usually enough.
Proverbs 31:28
Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
World English Bible (WEB) · Wisdom literature
“Her children rise up and call her blessed.” From the poem about the excellent wife, and this line is the one about being seen by your kids. For a straightforward card to a mother who did the work, it is the traditional choice and it still lands.
Isaiah 66:13
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.
World English Bible (WEB) · Prophecy
“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” God describes his own comfort by comparing it to a mother’s. For a card, it honors what she did by saying it is what God is like. For someone who lost their mother, it is the verse for the day, because the comfort it names is still available.
2 Timothy 1:5
having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
World English Bible (WEB) · Letter (epistle)
Paul to Timothy: the faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. Two women named in Scripture for handing faith down a generation at a time. For a grandmother’s card, or a mother whose faith is the reason you have yours, this is the one.
Proverbs 31:25
Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.
World English Bible (WEB) · Wisdom literature
“Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.” For the mother who raised kids alone, or through illness, or on not enough money. Laughing at the future is a specific kind of courage, and the verse names it.
1 Samuel 1:27
I prayed for this child, and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him.
World English Bible (WEB) · Narrative
Hannah, holding the son she waited years for: “For this child I prayed.” For a mother who waited, adopted, or fostered. And for a Mother’s Day card to a woman still waiting, it is the only verse that does not skip the waiting.
Isaiah 49:15-16
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you! Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.
World English Bible (WEB) · Prophecy
“Can a woman forget her nursing child? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” For the person whose mother could not, or would not, be a mother. The verse admits that some mothers fail their children and does not pretend otherwise, and then promises the one who won’t.
Psalm 34:18
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
World English Bible (WEB) · Psalm (poetry)
Near to the brokenhearted. This one is not for a card; it is for the second Sunday in May, for whoever is dreading it: the woman who lost a baby, the one who cannot conceive, the son who cannot call, the daughter whose mother died in March. The nearness does not take the day off.
Proverbs 22:6. “Train up a child in the way he should go” goes in Mother’s Day cards as praise, and for the mother whose adult child has walked away, from the faith or from her, it lands as a verdict. Proverbs 31:25 praises the mother without grading the outcome.
Proverbs 31:28 or Isaiah 66:13 for most cards. 2 Timothy 1:5 for grandmothers. And send one text on Sunday to the friend you know is dreading it; that message will be the only one she gets that does not assume the day is happy.
These are the ones I’d hand you first. The search covers every verse in the Bible and tells you why each one matched.
Search the whole Bible for mother’s day cardIsaiah 66:13, “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you,” or the first line of Proverbs 31:28.
“I know Sunday is hard. Thinking of you.” Name the reason if you know it, and the person if there is one. Do not send a Mother’s Day verse; send Psalm 34:18 or nothing but the note.
Isaiah 49:15–16, which admits some mothers forget their children and promises the one who won’t. You do not owe the day a card.