Bible verses about winter and snow: every KJV mention, grouped by theme, with a 4-week winter devotional

The best-known Bible verses about winter and snow are Genesis 8:22 ("summer and winter... shall not cease"), Isaiah 1:18 ("they shall be as white as snow"), Psalm 51:7 ("I shall be whiter than snow"), Psalm 147:16 ("He giveth snow like wool") and Song of Solomon 2:11 ("the winter is past"). Together they speak of God's faithfulness through every season and his power to make us clean.

By our count of the KJV text, the word "winter" appears 14 times in 13 verses, and "snow" 24 times in 24 verses. That's few enough to read every one, which is exactly what this page does: each verse grouped by what it actually says, checked against the KJV.

At the end you'll find a 4-week winter devotional with one memory verse a week, built for the cold, dark stretch between New Year's and spring.

Every verse that mentions winter

Here are all 13 KJV verses with the word "winter", in Bible order. We counted whole words in the KJV text used in the Bible Academy app. Acts 27:12 uses the word twice, which makes 14.

Two related words appear once each: "wintered" (Acts 28:11, a ship that had wintered on the island of Melita, Acts 28:1) and "winterhouse" (Jeremiah 36:22).

God made summer and winter

The first winter verse in the Bible is a promise. Right after the flood, God commits to keeping the world's rhythms going:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Psalm 74:17 says the same thing as praise: "thou hast made summer and winter." If you live somewhere with gray January skies, that's worth holding onto. Winter isn't a sign that God has stepped away. It's one of the seasons he made, and it has an end. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 puts it, "To every thing there is a season."

If you want a verse like Genesis 8:22 to stay with you all winter, Bible Academy's memory verses come back for review, so you don't forget them by March.

The winter is past

The most hopeful winter verse sits in a love poem:

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

Christians have often read it as a picture of what God does after a hard stretch: the cold breaks, things start growing again. Read it in its setting first (a beloved calling his bride to come away), then let it remind you that winters end.

Jesus in winter

John 10:22 is the only verse that places Jesus in a specific season by name: "it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter." The Feast of the Dedication is the festival Jewish families call Hanukkah today. In that cold-weather setting, walking in Solomon's porch (John 10:23), Jesus says some of his most comforting words:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Paul's winter request

Near the end of 2 Timothy, Paul is in prison and knows his time is short (2 Timothy 4:6). His requests are very human: "Do thy diligence to come before winter" (2 Timothy 4:21), and bring "the cloke that I left at Troas... and the books, but especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13). A coat for the cold, and something to read. Winter travel was dangerous in his world, which is also why the crew in Acts 27 wanted a harbor to winter in before Paul's shipwreck.

Bible verses about snow, by theme

All 24 verses with the word "snow" fall into a handful of themes.

White as snow: forgiveness

If you only memorize one snow verse, make it this one:

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

God speaks to a people whose hands are stained, and the invitation is "come now, and let us reason together". Scarlet and crimson were dyes that didn't wash out. God promises to do what no washing could.

David prays the same hope in Psalm 51 after his sin with Bathsheba: "wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7), then "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:10). Job 9:30 shows the other side: even if he washed "with snow water", he couldn't make himself clean before God. The gospel answer is the one John gives: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).

White as snow: the glory of God

Snow is also the Bible's picture of blazing purity. Daniel sees the Ancient of days, "whose garment was white as snow" (Daniel 7:9). At the transfiguration, Jesus' clothes became "exceeding white as snow" (Mark 9:3). The angel at the empty tomb wore "raiment white as snow" (Matthew 28:3). And John on Patmos sees the risen Jesus, his hair "as white as snow" (Revelation 1:14), in the vision of the glorified Christ.

The same image that describes our cleansing describes Jesus' glory. That's not an accident: the One who is pure is the One who makes us clean.

Leprous as snow

Three times "snow" describes skin disease: Moses' hand as a sign (Exodus 4:6), Miriam after she spoke against Moses (Numbers 12:10), and Gehazi after his greed in the story of Naaman healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:27). It's a sobering contrast with Isaiah 1:18: white as snow can mean judgment or mercy.

God commands the snow

In Job 37, Elihu describes God's power over weather: "he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth" (Job 37:6). Then God himself asks Job, "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?" (Job 38:22). Psalm 147 is the best winter psalm in the Bible:

He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Notice the frame: God "sendeth forth his commandment" before the snow, and "sendeth out his word" to melt it. Isaiah 55 makes the same link. As rain and snow water the earth and don't return empty, "so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void" (Isaiah 55:10-11). Every time you open the Bible on a cold morning, that promise is in play.

Proverbs in the snow

• "As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger" (Proverbs 25:13): someone reliable is as refreshing as cold water on a hot day.
• "As snow in summer... so honour is not seemly for a fool" (Proverbs 26:1): some things just don't fit.
• "She is not afraid of the snow for her household" (Proverbs 31:21): the wise woman prepares ahead, and her family is warmly clothed.

Benaiah and the lion in the snow

The most unexpected snow verse belongs to one of David's mighty men. Benaiah "went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow" (2 Samuel 23:20). A pit, a lion, and slippery snow: the worst possible conditions, and he went down anyway. First Chronicles 11:22 tells the same feat "in a snowy day", the only time the KJV uses that word. It's a fun trivia question and a good picture of courage when conditions are against you.

Cold, frost and the winter house

A few more words round out the picture of winter in Scripture:

• Frost appears 6 times in the KJV, plus "hoarfrost" once. "By the breath of God frost is given" (Job 37:10).
• Cold: "who can stand before his cold?" (Psalm 147:17). And a warning for anyone tempted to hibernate spiritually: "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest" (Proverbs 20:4).
• The winterhouse: King Jehoiakim sat in his winterhouse by a fire on the hearth while Jeremiah's scroll was read to him, then cut it up and burned it (Jeremiah 36:22-23). Warm and comfortable, and completely unwilling to hear God's word.

That last scene is a good gut check for winter. Comfort isn't the enemy. But it's easy to sit by the fire and let God's word go up in smoke.

A 4-week winter devotional for young adults

January and February can be the hardest weeks to keep a quiet time: dark mornings, the New Year energy fading, no holiday to look forward to. This plan takes about 10 minutes a day. Read the passage for the day, write one sentence about what it shows you about God, and review the week's memory verse.

That's six readings a week, with one day off to catch up or rest. If you've already started the winter break Bible reading plan, this picks up nicely once school starts again.

For journaling, the SOAP Bible study method fits this plan well: write the Scripture, one observation, one application, and a short prayer. Week 4's memory verse is a good one to carry into February:

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

How to memorize a winter verse

Four memory verses in four weeks is realistic if you review a little every day. A simple routine:

1. Write it out on day 1, by hand, with the reference.
2. Say it once in the morning and once at night, first words only as hints.
3. Review last week's verse before starting the new one.
4. Use it. Pray Isaiah 1:18 back to God when you confess. Read Psalm 147:16 out loud on the first snow day.

Our guide on how to memorize Scripture goes further, and 52 Bible verses to memorize gives you a verse for every week once this plan ends. If you're building a New Year habit, our New Year Bible verses pair well with this list.

If you'd rather have the readings tracked for you, the Bible Academy reading plan keeps a calendar and streak, and a short quiz after your reading helps you remember what you read.

Test yourself on Psalms and Isaiah

Several of these verses come from Psalms and Isaiah. Try three questions on Psalms:

Quick quiz: Psalms

Which word opens the first psalm?

BlessedPraiseWhyHear

Which psalm begins with “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”?

Psalm 1Psalm 91Psalm 23Psalm 121

Which psalm begins with “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name”?

Psalm 100Psalm 103Psalm 34Psalm 145

Continue the quiz

There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.

The full Psalms quiz explains every answer with its verse.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Bible say about winter?

The Bible presents winter as one of the seasons God made and keeps: "summer and winter... shall not cease" while the earth remains (Genesis 8:22), and "thou hast made summer and winter" (Psalm 74:17). Winter also marks real moments: Jesus taught at the Feast of the Dedication in winter (John 10:22), and Paul asked Timothy to come before winter (2 Timothy 4:21).

How many times is winter mentioned in the Bible?

By our count of the KJV text, the word "winter" appears 14 times in 13 verses, from Genesis 8:22 to Titus 3:12. Acts 27:12 uses it twice. Counting related words adds "wintered" (Acts 28:11) and "winterhouse" (Jeremiah 36:22) once each. Other translations may give slightly different totals.

How many times is snow mentioned in the Bible?

The word "snow" appears 24 times in 24 verses of the KJV, and "snowy" once. The best-known are Isaiah 1:18 and Psalm 51:7 about forgiveness, Psalm 147:16 about God's power ("He giveth snow like wool"), and Revelation 1:14, where the risen Jesus' hair is "as white as snow".

What does "white as snow" mean in the Bible?

"White as snow" usually means completely clean or pure. In Isaiah 1:18 and Psalm 51:7 it describes God's forgiveness: sins like scarlet made white. In Daniel 7:9, Mark 9:3 and Revelation 1:14 it describes the glory and holiness of God and of Jesus. Three times it describes leprous skin (Exodus 4:6; Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 5:27).

What is a good Bible verse for a cold winter day?

Psalm 147:16-18 fits a snowy day perfectly: "He giveth snow like wool... He sendeth out his word, and melteth them." For a gray, discouraging week, Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds you that God's compassions "are new every morning". For hope that winter ends, read Song of Solomon 2:11: "the winter is past".

Did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah?

John 10:22-23 says Jesus was in the temple at Jerusalem during "the feast of the dedication, and it was winter". That feast is the one known today as Hanukkah. The text places Jesus in the temple during the festival and records his teaching there (John 10:24-30); it doesn't describe how he observed it.