Short Easter Bible verses for cards
Ten short verses from the King James Version, ready to copy into an Easter card or message.
- “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” Matthew 28:6
- “The Lord is risen indeed” Luke 24:34
- “I am the resurrection, and the life” John 11:25
- “But now is Christ risen from the dead” 1 Corinthians 15:20
- “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55
- “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
- “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” Revelation 1:18
- “because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19
- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
- “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
All from the King James Version. The Easter greeting “He is risen” comes from Matthew 28:6, Mark 16:6 and Luke 24:6.
Holy Week day by day
A reading for each day from Palm Sunday to Easter. Most follow Mark, the Gospel that marks the days most closely. In Faithero you can have each chapter read aloud in the KJV, verse by verse, even with your screen locked.
| Day | 2027 date | What happened | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Sunday | March 21 | Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a young donkey. Crowds spread their garments and branches on the road and shout Hosanna. | Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-19 |
| Monday | March 22 | Jesus curses a fig tree that has leaves but no fruit, and drives the money changers out of the temple. | Mark 11:12-19 |
| Tuesday | March 23 | A long day of teaching: hard questions from the leaders in the temple, the poor widow and her two mites, and Jesus' words about the end of the age on the Mount of Olives. | Mark 11:20-13:37 |
| Wednesday | March 24 | Two days before the Passover, the leaders plot to arrest Jesus, a woman anoints him at Bethany, and Judas agrees to betray him. | Mark 14:1-11 |
| Maundy Thursday | March 25 | The Last Supper. Jesus washes his disciples' feet, gives them the bread and the cup, prays in Gethsemane and is arrested that night. | Mark 14:12-72; John 13 |
| Good Friday | March 26 | Jesus is tried before Pilate, crucified, and dies in the afternoon. Joseph of Arimathaea buries him before the Sabbath begins. | Mark 15; John 18:28-19:42 |
| Holy Saturday | March 27 | The Sabbath. Jesus' body lies in the sealed and guarded tomb, and the women who followed him rest. | Matthew 27:62-66; Luke 23:55-56 |
| Easter Sunday | March 28 | At dawn the women find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty: he is risen. That evening Jesus appears to his disciples. | Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 |
The Gospels do not label every day; this outline follows the day markers in Mark 11:11-12, 11:19-20, 14:1, 14:12, 15:42 and 16:1-2. The dates are for Western churches. Most Eastern Orthodox churches keep Holy Week from April 25 to May 2, 2027.
Palm Sunday Bible verses
Palm Sunday remembers the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey while the crowds waved branches and shouted. He was acting out a promise the prophet Zechariah had made long before, and Matthew says so (Matthew 21:4-5).
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
“On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Hosanna is a Hebrew cry that means “save, I pray.” The crowds were quoting Psalm 118, which the KJV renders “Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD... Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 118:25-26, KJV). Five days later another crowd in the same city shouted “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13, KJV). The Gospels are not pointing a finger at one city; they are holding up a mirror. Praise can turn quickly in any heart. Jesus knew that, and he rode in anyway (Mark 10:33-34).
Maundy Thursday Bible verses
On the Thursday of Holy Week Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, washed their feet, and gave them the bread and the cup. The day's English name, Maundy, comes from the Latin mandatum, commandment, after the new commandment he gave that night.
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Many churches celebrate Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday, and many also wash feet at a special service, as Jesus told his disciples to do (John 13:14-15). You can read more in our lesson on Holy Communion.
Good Friday Bible verses
Good Friday remembers the day Jesus was crucified. These verses are the center of the gospel: the innocent one dying for the guilty, and praying for them as he died.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Isaiah wrote of a servant who would be wounded for other people's sins, and the New Testament applies his words to Jesus (1 Peter 2:24). On the cross Jesus prayed for the people who crucified him, promised paradise to a dying thief (Luke 23:43), and with his last breath entrusted himself to his Father. “It is finished” (John 19:30, KJV) is not a cry of defeat. It is the word of someone whose work is complete. To see what that work means for you, read what the gospel is.
Easter verses for kids
Six short verses children can learn by heart, each with a simple line about what it means.
- “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” Matthew 28:6. Jesus is alive! He did exactly what he said he would do.
- “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5. The angels asked why anyone would look for Jesus in a grave. He is alive.
- “The Lord is risen indeed” Luke 24:34. His friends told each other the good news: it really happened.
- “I am the resurrection, and the life” John 11:25. Jesus is stronger than death, and he shares his life with everyone who trusts him.
- “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20. Jesus promised to be with us every single day.
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” John 3:16. Easter shows how much God loves you.
All from the King James Version. Read Matthew 28:1-10 together for the whole Easter morning story in a few minutes.
What Easter means
Paul sums up the Christian faith in two verses, and the resurrection is half of it.
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
Without Easter, Paul says, the cross would be the end of the story: “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17, KJV). With Easter, everything changes. Jesus “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25, KJV). Death did not have the last word over him, and it will not have the last word over those who belong to him.
Paul uses a harvest word for this: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20, KJV). The firstfruits were the first sheaf of the harvest, given to God before the rest was gathered in (Leviticus 23:10-11). Christ is that first sheaf, and the rest of the harvest is everyone who belongs to him (1 Corinthians 15:23). Peter calls it “a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, KJV).
That hope reaches the people we have lost, too. Paul tells grieving Christians not to sorrow “even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, KJV), because “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14, KJV). If Easter finds you missing someone, you can read more about what happens when we die.
If you are ready to take that hope as your own, see how to be saved. And to prepare for Easter in the weeks before it, try the Lent reading plan.
Frequently asked
When is Easter 2027?
Easter Sunday is March 28, 2027. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, March 21, with Maundy Thursday on March 25 and Good Friday on March 26, and Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2027. Most Eastern Orthodox churches, which set the date by the older Julian calendar, celebrate Easter (Pascha) on May 2, 2027. In Western churches Easter is the first Sunday after the church's Paschal full moon, which falls on or after March 21, so the date moves between March 22 and April 25.
What does Easter mean?
Easter celebrates Jesus rising from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, and it is the oldest feast of the Christian church. In many languages its name comes from Pascha, the word for Passover, because Jesus died and rose at Passover time: Pascua in Spanish, Pâques in French, Pasqua in Italian. The English word Easter is harder to trace; the monk Bede, writing in the 700s, connected it with the Old English name for the month of April and a spring goddess. Whatever the word's history, the day means one thing: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6, KJV).
Why is it called Good Friday?
No one knows for certain. Many word historians think good here keeps an old meaning, holy, which matches what other languages call the day: in Spanish it is Viernes Santo, Holy Friday. Others trace it to God's Friday. Either way, Christians call the day good not because the suffering was good but because of what it won: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, KJV).
Where does the Bible say “He is risen”?
The angel at the tomb says it in Matthew: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6, KJV). Mark has “he is risen; he is not here” (Mark 16:6, KJV), and Luke has “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:6, KJV). That evening the disciples in Jerusalem met two travelers back from Emmaus with the news, “The Lord is risen indeed” (Luke 24:34, KJV).
Is the word Easter in the Bible?
Once, in the King James Version: Acts 12:4, where Herod planned to bring Peter out to the people “after Easter” (Acts 12:4, KJV). The Greek word there is pascha, which the KJV translates passover 28 other times, and newer translations such as the NIV, ESV and NKJV say Passover in Acts 12:4 too.
Easter begins with a name
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark, expecting to find a body. She found the stone rolled away, and she stood outside weeping, sure that someone had taken him. Then a man she took for the gardener asked why she was crying. She did not know him until he said her name: “Mary” (John 20:16, KJV).
That is how the risen Jesus met people: not with a speech to a crowd, but one by one. A grieving woman, by name. Two discouraged travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). A doubting friend, shown the marks of the nails (John 20:27). A friend who had failed him, given breakfast on the shore and a fresh start (John 21:9-17). Easter is a public fact, a stone rolled away for anyone to see. It is also personal. Whatever you carry into this Easter, grief or doubt or failure or plain tiredness, the risen Lord knows your name.
“He is risen”: the resurrection
All four Gospels tell what happened at the tomb on the first day of the week, each from its own angle. Matthew mentions an earthquake and an angel who rolled back the stone; Luke, two men in shining garments; John, two angels and a meeting in a garden. But they agree on what matters most. Women came first. The stone was rolled away. The body was gone. And the message was the same: he is risen.
Mark puts it plainly: “he is risen; he is not here” (Mark 16:6, KJV). Luke adds a question worth sitting with: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5, KJV). And John slows down to show two people meeting the risen Jesus: a grieving woman who hears her own name, and a doubting friend who sees the wounds and believes.
The last line belongs to everyone reading this page: “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29, KJV).