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Does the Bible say…

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“This too shall pass”

Not in the Bible

This phrase does not appear in the Bible.

A Persian fable, popularised in English by Edward FitzGerald (1852) and Abraham Lincoln (1859). Not in the Bible.

1859
Abraham Lincoln's Wisconsin address
1852
Edward FitzGerald, 'Polonius'
0
times the phrase appears in Scripture

Full reference

Full passage in context and origin

Origin

The earliest documented form of “This too shall pass” is a Persian fable retold by medieval Sufi poets. In the story, a king asks his sages for a saying that will be true in every circumstance — joyful or sorrowful. The sages return with the line that has come down in English as “This too shall pass.”

The English-language popularisation runs through two well-known nineteenth-century figures:

  • Edward FitzGerald included a version of the fable in Polonius: A Collection of Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1852).
  • Abraham Lincoln referenced the saying in an address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society on September 30, 1859: “It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: ‘And this, too, shall pass away.’”

It is sometimes attributed in modern usage to Solomon, but this attribution does not appear in any biblical text or in any pre-modern source connecting the saying to him.

Why the misattribution persists

The phrase has biblical-sounding cadence and concerns a theme — the transience of human circumstance — that Scripture does discuss. Several Bible passages express related ideas (see “What the Bible does say”), and the resemblance has led some readers to assume the phrase itself is biblical.

What the Bible says on this theme

Several biblical passages describe the impermanence of human circumstance. They are listed above. None of them contains the phrase “this too shall pass.”

What the Bible does say about this

What the Bible does say about this

  • 1 Peter 1:24 — BSB

    For 'All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.'

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1 — BSB

    To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

  • 2 Corinthians 4:17 — BSB

    For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all.

While you're here — others who read this also found

All things work together for good

Romans 8:28. KJV: 'all things work together'. BSB: 'God works all things together'. Greek manuscripts disagree on whether 'God' is the explicit subject.

Translation Dependent

The number 666 appears as 616 in some early manuscripts

Some early Greek manuscripts of Revelation read 616 instead of 666 for the number of the beast. Irenaeus noted the variant c. 180 AD.

Related entries

Cleanliness is next to godliness

John Wesley's sermon 'On Dress' (1791). Not in the Bible.

Not in the Bible

Everything happens for a reason

Not in the Bible. Romans 8:28 is the verse most often cited as its equivalent — but Romans 8:28 has two qualifying conditions ('for those who love Him, who are called') that the popular phrase drops.

Not in the Bible

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

Widely attributed to Gandhi but not in his published writings. The 'eye for an eye' phrase is biblical (Exodus 21) but means proportional justice — it limits retaliation rather than encouraging unlimited cycles.

Not in the Bible

External references