Every day, someone opens a lock screen and reads a short line from an old book: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” That promise, Luke 1:37, has become a default pick for daily-verse cards — and Bible Gateway (a leading Scripture search platform), the most popular daily-verse site online, keeps it in heavy rotation. The surprise is how a single verse can feel so personal and still raise so many editorial questions: which translation captures it best, what the angel Gabriel was actually telling Mary, and why the same promise that calms a worried heart can feel cold when life says no.
Luke 1:37 at a glance
- ESV: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Bible Gateway).
- NIV: “For no word from God will ever fail” (Bible Gateway).
- From “nothing shall be impossible” to “no word from God shall be void of power.” (Blue Letter Bible (a Bible research platform))
- Blue Letter Bible (a Bible research platform) catalogs this range across versions.
- The Greek term can mean “word” or “saying” (JW.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses).
- JW.org: “no declaration or promise of God will go unfulfilled.” (JW.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
- Featured by BibleGateway, BibleStudyTools, Blue Letter Bible, and BibleHub.
- Also present on JW.org’s Bible-teaching pages.
Key facts about Luke 1:37
The verse appears across translations with different emphases, each tied to the same Greek root.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Book | Luke 1:37 (Gospel of Luke) |
| Original language | New Testament Greek |
| Speaker | Angel Gabriel to Mary |
| ESV | “For nothing will be impossible with God.” |
| NIV | “For no word from God will ever fail.” |
| KJV | “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” |
| JW.org gloss | “No declaration or promise of God will go unfulfilled.” |
| Devotional reach | Appears on a dozen-plus daily-verse sites |
The upshot: every reading translates the same Greek while making a slightly different editorial choice about whether God’s power or God’s word deserves the spotlight.
What does Luke 1:37 mean in its original scene?
The verse sits inside one of the most carefully crafted dialogues in the New Testament. Mary has not asked for a miracle on her own terms; she has asked for mechanics: How will this be? Gabriel’s reply does not explain the biology. Instead, he points to God’s capacity to act—and to the track record of God’s word. The NIV text at Bible Gateway (a major digital Bible library) renders the line as “For no word from God will ever fail,” tying the power directly to God’s spoken promise.
According to JW.org (the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses), the meaning is that no declaration or promise of God will go unfulfilled. That shifts the focus from generic possibility to covenantal reliability: God says, God means it, God follows through.
Why this matters: the verse is not a depository of every wish you bring to prayer; it is a guarantee about the word God has actually spoken.
Why do English translations disagree on Luke 1:37?
- ESV: “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
- NIV: “For no word from God will ever fail.”
- KJV: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
The gap between “nothing” and “word” is really a decision about the Greek term rhēma. JW.org (a Bible-teaching site) notes the original-language word can mean “word” or “saying,” which is why the New World Translation’s rendering “For no declaration will be impossible for God” captures the promise-of-speech nuance. Blue Letter Bible (a Bible research platform) shows the range in English: from “nothing shall be impossible” to “no word from God shall be void of power.”
The catch: a daily-verse app that features the KJV string may not mention the word-for-word nuance in translations like the NIV.
How did Luke 1:37 become one of the most-shared daily verses?
- Bible Gateway (a leading digital Scripture search platform) — a stable passage page
- BibleStudyTools (a reference site with parallel translations) — cross-version notes
- Blue Letter Bible (a Bible research platform) — original-language cluster
The verse is short, quotable, and fits the emotional slot where encouragement lives. Bible Gateway (a major digital Bible library) keeps it in circulation as one of its popular passages, while BibleStudyTools (a parallel-translation reference) includes the line that God’s word will not be void of power, tying the verse to divine efficacy. Over a dozen daily-verse sites now serve it automatically.
The trade-off: the crop makes the verse easier to memorize and easier to misread as a blanket promise about personal outcomes.
What does “nothing will be impossible” mean for your faith?
This is where the cultural impact gets both practical and tender. For someone facing what looks like a dead end, the verse can be afloat in the dark. BibleHub (a cross-reference study platform) describes it as an encouragement because it directly addresses fear, uncertainty, and apparent impossibility. At the same time, the verse begins with an angelic rebuttal to a question about a very specific promise (a virgin birth), so its power is inseparable from the character of the one making the promise.
The upshot: the most mature readers keep the context close and let the verse train them to trust God’s word in general, not to demand a particular miracle in the details.
Is it safe to quote Luke 1:37 out of context?
Confirmed
- The verse appears in the Gospel of Luke, one of the four canonical Gospels (Wikipedia, a general reference source for the Gospel of Luke).
- The original Greek allows the word/declaration nuance (JW.org supports this).
- Bible Gateway, Bible Study Tools, Blue Letter Bible, and BibleHub all index the verse as a distinct passage.
Overreach
- Using the verse to claim that any personal desire will automatically happen.
- Treating it as a stand-alone mantra without the surrounding conversation in Luke 1.
- Ignoring the word/declaration nuance in translations like the NIV.
The canonicity question is sometimes part of the search: is Luke 1:37 really in the Bible? It is. Wikipedia (a general reference source for the Gospel of Luke) summarizes the Gospel’s early recognition and stable place in the canon. The more subtle question is contextual, not canonical. The safest rule: quote the verse with at least one adjacent sentence (Luke 1:35–38) and prefer a translation that preserves the word/declaration idea when teaching on it.
What to watch: how a tool renders the verse matters because the modern daily-verse economy rewards a memorable sentence over a complete thought.
Which other verses in Luke belong next to 1:37?
- Luke 1:45 — “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her” (NIV).
- Luke 1:38 — “Let it be to me according to your word” (NIV).
- Luke 19:10 — “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (NIV).
The Gospel of Luke keeps this kind of faith visible: the same chapter shows Elizabeth and Mary speaking about God’s word, while other chapters show Jesus acting on that word. The verse closest to 1:37 is actually 1:45, where the text says, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.” Luke 19:10 at Bible Gateway extends the theme from promise to rescue.
The paradox: Luke pairs impossible stances (a virgin conceives, a declaration from God fulfills itself) with extremely concrete human settings (a teenage engagement, a tax collector climbing a tree).
Voices on Luke 1:37
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”— King James Version
“For no word from God will ever fail.”— New International Version
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”— English Standard Version
The takeaway
Luke 1:37 will stay on lock screens because it meets a universal ache for a God who can still surprise. But the version that survives in memory is not always the version that survives in context. If the next daily-verse card edges toward a blank-check reading, the counterbalance is simple: read the rest of Luke 1, tell the difference between a word from God and a wish of your own, and let the angel’s reply to Mary be what it was — a promise about hope for a word that goes out from God and will not return empty. The reader must decide whether to treat the verse as a general encouragement or as a specific claim about God’s reliability.
biblegateway.com, biblegateway.com, biblegateway.com, biblia.com, biblestudytools.com
Frequently asked questions about Luke 1:37
Is Luke 1:37 a promise that anything I pray for will happen?
Not exactly. In context, the angel is affirming that God’s word does not fail. The verse has encouraged countless readers, but it starts as a statement about God’s declaration, not a blanket promise for every personal request.
Why do some Bibles say “word” instead of “thing” in Luke 1:37?
The original Greek term can mean “word,” “saying,” or “declaration.” The NIV and the New World Translation keep “word” or “declaration”; the KJV and ESV use “thing” or “anything.” Both belong to a legitimate translation range.
What is the original language of Luke 1:37?
The Gospel of Luke was written in New Testament Greek. The clause centers on a Greek noun that can function as “word” or “saying.”
Who says Luke 1:37 in the Bible?
The angel Gabriel speaks the words to Mary during the announcement of Jesus’ birth.
What is the context of Luke 1:37?
It is part of the annunciation narrative (Luke 1:26–38). Mary questions the angel, and the angel answers with a declaration about God’s ability to fulfill his word.
What is the most popular verse in the Gospel of Luke?
While Luke 1:37 is widely shared, the broader Bible culture consistently names John 3:16 as the best-known verse across the canon.
Related reading
Harry Thompson is Senior Reporter at PublicReport, covering breaking UK news and political stories across the country.