For a card, use Proverbs 31:28, Proverbs 31:26, or Numbers 6:24, because all three are short enough for a child to copy in their own handwriting and none of them need explaining first. For something said out loud at breakfast rather than written down, Proverbs 23:25 and Exodus 20:12 give a child something to do rather than something to say.
The twenty-one verses further down are sorted by that difference: the ones that fit in a card, the ones attached to a mother in the Bible with a story behind her, and the ones that ask something of the child. First, three card messages you can copy straight across.
Every verse is quoted word for word from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation that keeps the divine name as Yahweh in Old Testament verses.
Short enough for a child to write out, with the last line left free so it still sounds like them.
Dear Mom, you always know what to say, even when I do not. My verse for you is “She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:26. Thank you for teaching me. Love, [your name]
Happy Mother's Day. I picked a verse to pray over you this year: “Yahweh bless you, and keep you.” Numbers 6:24. I said it for you this morning before you woke up. Love, [your name]
Mom, this verse made me think of you: “I have no greater joy than this, to hear about my children walking in truth.” 3 John 1:4. I am glad I am one of your children. Love, [your name]
Eight verses a child can copy out in their own handwriting without running off the bottom of the page.
“Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:”
Proverbs 31:28
The most quoted Mother's Day verse there is, and it works because the children are the ones doing the speaking.
“Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.”
Proverbs 31:25
She laughs at the time to come is the line to point out. It means she is not afraid of tomorrow, which children find reassuring about their own mother.
“She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.”
Proverbs 31:26
Good for a child who wants to thank their mother for something specific rather than for existing.
“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.”
Proverbs 31:30
Worth a short conversation first. Fears here means honors deeply, not is frightened of, and a child will ask.
“I have no greater joy than this, to hear about my children walking in truth.”
3 John 1:4
Written by a church elder about people he taught, and it reads beautifully in a card from a child to a mother.
“A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17
For the child whose mother is also the person they tell things to. At all times is the part that means it.
“Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,”
1 Corinthians 13:4
Ask a child which word on that list their mother is best at. Their answer usually becomes the card.
“Yahweh bless you, and keep you.”
Numbers 6:24
Six words, and the only verse here that a child is giving rather than describing. It is a blessing, spoken over her.
Seven verses that come attached to a real woman with a story. Read the verse, then tell the story it came out of.
“I prayed for this child; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him.”
1 Samuel 1:27
Hannah says this about Samuel. Children are quietly moved to learn a mother once prayed for a child who did not exist yet.
“Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
Luke 1:46
The opening of Mary's song, spoken at her relative Elizabeth's house after the angel's news.
“But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.”
Luke 2:19
Pondering is worth teaching. It is what a mother does with the things she does not say out loud.
“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.”
2 Timothy 1:5
Three generations in one sentence. A good verse for a card that is going to a grandmother as well.
“As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.””
Isaiah 66:13
God describes his own comfort by pointing at a mother, which tells a child something about both.
“He settles the barren woman in her home, as a joyful mother of children. Praise Yah!”
Psalm 113:9
A verse for families built by waiting. Handle it gently, and it will mean a great deal in some homes.
“For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Psalm 139:13
Knit is the picture children latch onto, especially if there is knitting anywhere in the house.
Six verses that ask something of the child rather than praising the parent. Best said at breakfast, not in a card.
““Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.”
Exodus 20:12
One of the Ten Commandments, and the one Paul later points to as the first with a promise attached.
““Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:”
Ephesians 6:2
Paul quoting the commandment above and pointing out the promise, so the two verses teach well as a pair.
“My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:”
Proverbs 1:8
Say teaching rather than forsake when you first read it aloud, then put the harder word back the second time.
“My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.”
Proverbs 6:20
Almost the same sentence as the verse above, five chapters later. Proverbs repeats what it thinks matters.
“Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!”
Proverbs 23:25
The rare verse that hands a child a goal rather than a rule. Make your mother glad is something a seven-year-old can plan.
“Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.”
Psalm 127:3
Read it to a child on a day they have been difficult. It says something true that is easy to forget on both sides.
A verse about a mother means more once a child knows what she actually did.
A mother hides her son for three months, then places him in a basket among the reeds while his sister watches from a distance.
Read the story →Mary's story, from the angel's news to a manger in Bethlehem and the shepherds who came looking.
Read the story →Ruth stays with Naomi, her husband's mother, when she has every reason to go home instead.
Read the story →A verse recited at the table beats a verse read off a card, and it is a week of work at most.
Start with Numbers 6:24, since six words means the child finishes something on the first evening. Hide a word: write the verse on a sheet, read it together, fold or cover one word, read it again, and keep folding until there is nothing left to look at. Echo reading: you read three words, the child says them back, and the chunks grow each round, which is how a longer verse such as Proverbs 31:28 gets learned without anybody getting frustrated. Verse of the week: one verse, said at the same meal every day for a week, in the run-up to the day itself.
Keep the reference attached from the very first repeat, and let it be a surprise. A child who can say the verse without the card in front of them has given a better present than the card. More verses sorted by age are on our Bible memory verses page, and the shortest ones on the site are gathered on short Bible verses for kids.
Our favorite ten coloring pages and verse cards, free in one pack, sent to your inbox. A colored verse card tucked inside a homemade envelope is a perfectly good Mother's Day present.
These verses stay free. Little Prayers is our bedtime prayer book, starring your child: ten gentle prayers, each paired with a verse, with your child drawn into every spread and their name on the cover. Grandmothers tend to keep it on the shelf rather than in the toy box.
Proverbs 31:28 is the usual choice, and it earns it: “Her children rise up and call her blessed.” If you want something a child is giving rather than describing, Numbers 6:24 works better, because “Yahweh bless you, and keep you” is a blessing spoken over her rather than a compliment about her.
Pick one short enough to copy in their own handwriting. Numbers 6:24 is six words, Proverbs 31:26 is twelve, and 3 John 1:4 fits on a card with room left for a sentence of their own. Three finished card messages built around those verses are near the top of this page, and a child can copy one straight across or change the last line.
It says several things at once. It asks children to honor their mother, in Exodus 20:12 and again in Ephesians 6:2, where Paul notes it is the first commandment with a promise. It treats children as a gift rather than a burden, in Psalm 127:3. And in Isaiah 66:13 God describes his own comfort by comparing it to a mother comforting her child, which is a striking thing for Scripture to do.
The best known are Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel, Jochebed the mother of Moses, Hannah the mother of Samuel, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary the mother of Jesus. Paul also names Timothy's mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois in 2 Timothy 1:5, when he describes where Timothy's faith came from. Several of them have their own story on this site, linked further down the page.
Yes. Numbers 6:24 is six words in the World English Bible, and Proverbs 31:26 and Luke 2:19 are both short enough for a five or six-year-old with a week of daily repeats. Start with the six-word blessing, since a child who finishes one verse quickly is far more willing to start a second.
Hannah, Jochebed, Ruth, and Mary all sit inside the reading plan. Start at the beginning and the verses arrive with people attached.