If your child is being bullied, you already know the two feelings: fury, and helplessness. If you are the kid reading this, you know a third one, which is that it starts to feel true. This page is for both of you. The Bible does not tell a bullied child to toughen up. It says God is a high tower for the oppressed, that he looks at the heart and not the outside, and that the child was made on purpose, exactly as they are. Kids who are gay, trans, or simply different are bullied more than anyone, and every word on this page is for them too, without exception.
Bullying is not a rite of passage, and “ignore it” is not a plan. Tell the school in writing, keep a record, and if there are threats or the bullying is physical, involve the police. If your child has talked about not wanting to be alive, take it seriously today: call or text 988 in the US. LGBTQ young people can also reach The Trevor Project any hour at 1-866-488-7386 or by texting START to 678-678.
A verse to start with
For a child who is being bullied, and the parent
Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
World English Bible (WEB)
Why this fits
“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Knit together, on purpose, by someone who does not make mistakes. Bullying works by convincing a kid that something about them is wrong: their body, their voice, who they are drawn to, how they dress. This verse says the opposite from the highest authority there is. It is the first thing to read to a bullied child, and it applies to every child, including the ones some adults have told otherwise.
7 verses for a child who is being bullied, and the parent
Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
World English Bible (WEB) · Psalm (poetry)
“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Knit together, on purpose, by someone who does not make mistakes. Bullying works by convincing a kid that something about them is wrong: their body, their voice, who they are drawn to, how they dress. This verse says the opposite from the highest authority there is. It is the first thing to read to a bullied child, and it applies to every child, including the ones some adults have told otherwise.
1 Samuel 16:7
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
World English Bible (WEB) · Narrative
“Man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” Samuel was about to pick the tall, impressive brother; God picked the youngest, the one left out in the field. Bullies judge the outside because that is all they can see. The verse says the one whose opinion matters is looking somewhere else entirely, and likes what he sees.
Psalm 9:9
Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.
World English Bible (WEB) · Psalm (poetry)
“Yahweh will be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.” A tower is where you go when someone is after you. The psalm does not say the bully will stop tomorrow. It says there is a place to run that is higher than the bully can reach, and it is open.
Psalm 10:14
But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
World English Bible (WEB) · Psalm (poetry)
“But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.” The psalmist has just spent thirteen verses describing someone who preys on the weak and thinks nobody notices. Then: you do see. For a kid who has been told “nobody will believe you,” this is the answer. Somebody sees.
Psalm 56:3
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
World English Bible (WEB) · Psalm (poetry)
“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Short enough to say walking into school. Not “I am not afraid”; David wrote it while captured by enemies. Fear arrives, trust is chosen, and the sequence runs again at lunch. A kid can carry this one.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
World English Bible (WEB) · Letter (epistle)
Nothing can separate you from the love of God: not death, not life, not powers, not anything created. A bully is a created thing. So is a group chat. So is a rumor. Read the list to a kid who thinks the cruelty says something about their worth; the verse says nothing on earth gets a vote.
Proverbs 31:8
Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.
World English Bible (WEB) · Wisdom literature
“Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.” This one is for the parent, the teacher, the older sibling, the kid who is watching it happen to someone else. Speaking up is the instruction, not turning away. It is also the verse to read before the meeting with the school.
The one I’d leave out
Matthew 5:39 (“turn the other cheek”). Jesus said it to adults about how to answer an insult without escalating, and it gets handed to bullied children as an instruction to keep taking it. That is not what it means, and a child should never be told to endure abuse as a spiritual exercise. Proverbs 31:8, speak up for those who can’t, is the instruction for the adults in the room.
What to say with it
To your child: “I believe you. This is not your fault, and it’s not okay. We’re going to deal with it together.”
“You were made on purpose, exactly as you are.” Say it plainly, and say it especially if the bullying is about who they are.
If your child is being bullied for being gay, trans, or different: “Nothing about who you are is wrong, and I am on your side.” Whatever you are still working out, they need to hear that sentence from you now, and it will decide whether they keep talking to you.
To the school, in writing: what happened, when, who, and what you expect to change. Keep copies.
Don’t say: “Just ignore them,” “Kids are mean,” or “What did you do?” None of them help, and the last one teaches them not to tell you next time.
How to use these verses
Read Psalm 139:13–14 with your child, and let them read it themselves. Give them Psalm 56:3 for the walk in. Keep Proverbs 31:8 for yourself, and act on it. If your child is LGBTQ and is being bullied, the estrangement page has a section written for you, because how this year goes is often what decides the next twenty.
Want more than 7?
These are the ones I’d hand you first. The search covers every verse in the Bible and tells you why each one matched.
It has no verse with the word, and a great deal about the strong preying on the weak, all of it on the side of the weak. God is called a refuge for the oppressed, a helper of the fatherless, and someone who sees what the bully thinks is hidden. Jesus put a child in the middle of a room full of adults and said whoever receives one such child receives him.
My child is being bullied for being gay or trans. Is there anything for them here?
Every verse on this page, without exception, and Psalm 139 first. Kids who are LGBTQ are bullied at far higher rates and are at far higher risk of hurting themselves, and the single biggest protective factor is whether one parent is clearly on their side. Whatever your church teaches and whatever you are still working through, your child’s safety and your relationship with them come first, and nothing in Scripture requires you to choose the doctrine over the child. Tell them they were made on purpose. Mean it.
Should my child fight back?
That is a safety and school-policy question, not a Bible question, and this page won’t pretend otherwise. What Scripture does say is that the adults are responsible to speak up (Proverbs 31:8) and that a child should never be told to absorb abuse as a spiritual discipline.
What verse can I send a kid who is being bullied?
Psalm 139:14 with one line: “You were made on purpose, and I’m on your side.”