What are The Beatitudes in the Bible? Plus! Free Printable

The Beatitudes in the Bible come with a blessing. When you think of a blessing, you may think of a warm home, a full belly, peace, and a life free from sickness, tribulation and trials.

We must be careful to guard our hearts and minds against these ideas. If we don’t, we might find ourselves questioning God when difficulties do come our way.

We may ask ourselves questions like:

• Is God truly loving and kind?
• Does God even exist?
• Have I only loved Him for His many benefits?
• Is Christ alone enough?

The character qualities that make up the Beatitudes in the Bible paint a much different picture of what it truly means to be blessed.

This in-depth study of the 8 Beatitudes will cover the following:

• What are the Beatitudes?
• Why are the Beatitudes important?
• Beatitudes free printable
• The list of the Beatitudes
• The Beatitudes meaning

What are the Beatitudes?

I look at the 8 Beatitudes this way, the be-this-way-attitude. It is a state of being and they each come with a reward and/or blessing.

The Beatitudes are progressive as one will lead to the production of the next in your character. The foundation and building blocks are laid by the previous one.

The first one starts with humility and each one after brings us deeper into humility as Christ’s character increases within us.

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The Beatitudes in the Bible Scripture

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matt 5:3-12 NKJV

Why are the Beatitudes Important?

While the world and our flesh have a great desire for temporal passing pleasures, Jesus challenges us to know the depths of blessings that often come from sorrows and suffering.

Death to our plans, our vanity, our will, and our sin. The Beatitudes are important because we are to be like Christ and the Beatitudes teach us just that.

In addition to the Beatitudes, we can use other Bible verses to encourage us as we unravel the perfection of Jesus’ character.

Beatitudes Free Printables

I made two different Beatitudes free printables. Click this Beatitudes free printable link to get the one directly below and it will take you directly to the PDF file to download it.

The Beatitudes printable directly below is 8.5×11 and will fit beautifully in a picture frame. 

Beatitudes Free Printable Note Cards

I made this Beatitude free printable so it’s easy for you to take with you. All you need to do is click this Beatitudes free printable note cards link, print it on card stock (this is what I use), cut them out, punch a hole in the corner, and use a loose leaf ring (this is what I use) to secure it.

You can also laminate (this is what I use) them if you’d like. It will help keep them in good condition. I pray that you can benefit from these free printables.

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The List of the 8 Beatitudes

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
8. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Beatitudes Meaning

1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Do you remember the day you received the precious gift of salvation? Just the fact that you did that shows the working of the first Beatitude in your heart and mind.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Blessed is what you were the very first moment you believed.

To be poor in spirit is to be sorrowful as you realize you are insufficient yourself. When you received Jesus as your Savior, you acknowledged your insufficiency without Him.

You realize that you need him in your life because you can never be enough. You know that Christ is more than enough!

Doesn’t it make perfect sense that the blessing for the poor in spirit would be to receive the kingdom of God? That is our promise in the Bible, the gospel story, and the beginning of our walk with Christ.

2. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Once we realize we are poor in spirit and we are bankrupt without Jesus Christ, the mourning process begins. Before we knew Jesus, we only knew right from wrong and the consequences that came with it.

The consequence could cause you to lose your job, friends, family, money, etc. The revelation of our sin begins and we begin the process of mourning over sin.

The problem of sin will continue throughout this life and will affect us in various ways. Praise God for His ultimate goodness! He made the blessing for mourning over sin to be the ability to find comfort.

We will find comfort in Him because He has forgiven all of our sins. He has washed us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18) and He has cast our sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

3. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Meekness is a Fruit of the Spirit but it’s also a major aspect of who Jesus Christ is. This Beatitude calls us to be meek like Him (Romans 8:29).

We need to reflect and recognize when we have become prideful or judgemental. Pray and Confess with your heart that it is the same Jesus we all need to save us from sin and the consequences of it.

Ask the Lord to help you become meek like Him, and that he may be glorified and that you may become more effective for His Kingdom.

4. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

We know hunger and we know thirst. This Beatitude tells us that we cannot know what it really means to hunger and thirst for righteousness until we truly know we are hungry and thirsty.

We are empty and need to be filled. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39), filled with the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 48-51), and filled with Living Water (John 4:10-14).

We hunger and thirst for righteousness because we don’t have it within ourselves. When we seek Him we will find Him (Matt. 7:7).

When we eat we shall be satisfied, and when we drink we will thirst no more. We then shall taste and see that the Lord indeed is truly good, and we will be satisfied.

5. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

The Lord Himself is merciful and we are to be like Him.

“And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation. So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.” Exodus 34:6-8

Moses’ response is no different than what ours should be today. To bow down and worship before the ONLY true God. To intercede on behalf of ourselves, the lost, and our enemies.

Forgiveness and mercy go hand in hand. The Bible Verse Matthew 6:14-15 tells us that if we want to be forgiven, we must also forgive others.

6. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Our heart shows exactly who we are. God tells us that He will give us a new heart and a new Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26).  He will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

His Spirit will cause you to walk in His ways. The heart of stone represents our stubbornness and self-will.  The heart of flesh represents a soft heart that can be molded.

It is impossible to be pure in heart without taking our thoughts captive, renewing our minds, and our submission of our will to God.

It is He alone that purifies our hearts and makes them new so that we may receive the blessing of seeing Him in heaven.

7. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

A peacemaker is someone who brings reconciliation between people. Jesus was and is the only person who could bring reconciliation between God and man. We are to follow in His footsteps and seek out peace.

A peacemaker lives sacrificially and willingly. They have pure motives that flow out of the pureness of their hearts. They have learned to put the needs of others above their own (Phil. 2:3-4).

The motives behind our actions are more important to God than the actions themselves. Learn to love everyone, including your enemies (1 Cor 13:4-10).

8. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Our Lord and Savior Himself was persecuted for being righteous. They could find no evil in Him but they were still able to condemn Him to death.

Being known as a Christian can be an opening for persecution.  Our beliefs can challenge and offend others because they don’t understand that we are turning from our sinful ways.

Jesus tells us in this Beatitude that those who a persecuted for righteous sake will be blessed with the kingdom of heaven.

The Beatitudes are Blessings We Can Receive

The Beatitudes are truly all about becoming more like Christ. We need to trust Him in humility that He will use our lives in joyful broken submission to Him, for His glory, and for our good.

Keep studying your Bible and hold onto His promises. He will never fail you!

This was written by my sweet friend Jacqulyn from my women’s Bible study group. She loves Jesus with all her heart. She is married and has 4 children that she homeschools.