What the Bible says about plans and the future

The 14 verses readers most often turn to for this topic, quoted in full from the Berean Standard Bible.

Jer 29:11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

Prov 16:9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Prov 16:3Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved.

Prov 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.

Prov 21:5The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Ps 37:5Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.

Prov 15:22Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Prov 3:5–6Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Luke 14:28Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

Jas 4:13–15Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”

Prov 27:1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Isa 43:18–19“Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

Ps 20:4May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

Prov 6:6–8Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise. Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.

These are the verses readers most often turn to for this topic — not a teaching on it. Read each in its chapter.

Sources

The verses of each topic and their order: OpenBible.info topical data, by readers’ votes: OpenBible.info · CC BY 4.0

Berean Standard Bible · Public domain