20 Easter Bible Verses to Celebrate and Reflect

Contributing Editor Rick Hamlin shares Scripture to help you savor the profound joy of Easter
Holy Bible with verses on a table with Easter eggs on a pink cloth
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Easter is a time of rebirth and a deep sense of hope. Use these powerful Easter Bible verses to guide you on this day as you reflect on the story of Jesus’ resurrection. How can you bring these Scriptures into your own life and feel the power of Jesus’ love on Easter and beyond?

READ MORE: 40 Beautiful Easter Quotes to Share

Popular Easter Bible Verses

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1. Mark 16:8 – Be Amazed 

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them. (Mark 16:8) 

What would your reaction be if you went to the place where they had buried your beloved Lord and discovered the body was no longer there? The best news in the world can be so startling that we can’t embrace it at first. So it was for Jesus’ first followers. Two millennia later, the message of the Resurrection still takes me by surprise. Before singing those “Hallelujahs” at church, I find myself catching my breath. Then I utter the refrain: “The Lord is risen indeed!” 

READ MORE: 10 Easter Traditions (Old and New)

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2. 1 Peter 1:3 – Give Thanks

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3) 

I used to wonder why we praise God. Was God so insecure as to need all that affirma­tion? No—God loves our praise because it’s good for us, like telling a colleague what a great job they did or thanking a friend. Giving credit where credit is due. ’Tis the season of praise and exclamation points! Don’t hold back. Flowers, Easter baskets, colored eggs—they’re all ways to express our exuberance. To thank the Creator for his gift to us. 

READ MORE: 10 Acts of Kindness to Do for Easter

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3. Luke 18:16 – Nurture Your Inner Child 

But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” (Luke 18:16) 

After we sing the last hymn at church, the kids dash outside for the egg hunt. The eggs and giant bunny are reminders of new life. The event mirrors the thrill of any seek-and-find spiritual journey. No matter your age, a youthful spirit is something Jesus valued. Nurture your inner child for the day.  

READ MORE: 10 Easter Eggs from Around the World

More Easter Bible Verses to Bring You Joy 

Easter Bible verse stating For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

4. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

5. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:1-6) 

6. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11) 

Easter Bible verse stating Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.

7. Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone. (Zechariah 10:1) 

8. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:34-35) 

9. Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. (James 5:7) 

10. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. (1 Corinthians 15:20-21) 

11. I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. (John 11:25-26) 

12. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3) 

Easter Bible verse stating I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

13. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12) 

14. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14: 1-4) 

15. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1) 

16. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. (2 Timothy 1:9)  

17. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15-16) 

Easter Bible verse stating The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

18. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25-26)

19. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:18-20) 

20. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) 

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