Topic

Dream

Passages from across the Bible

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Evanescent

  • Job 20:8 He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

Vanity of

  • Ecclesiastes 5:3 As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
  • Ecclesiastes 5:7 For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

Instances of

Of Abimelech,, concerning Sarah

  • Genesis 20:3 One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

Of Jacob, concerning the ladder

  • Genesis 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.

The ring-straked cattle

  • Genesis 31:10–13 When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, s…

Concerning his going down into Egypt

  • Genesis 46:2 And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob.

Of Laban, concerning Jacob

  • Genesis 31:24 But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Of Joseph, concerning the sheaves

  • Genesis 37:5–10 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.” “Do you inte…

Of Midianite concerning the cake of barley

  • Judges 7:13 And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream. “Behold, I had a dream,” he said, “and I saw a loaf of barley bread come tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent so hard that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

Of Solomon, concerning his choice of wisdom

  • 1 Kings 3:3–15 And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there. One night at Gi…

Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him

  • Job 4:12–21 Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it. In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder. Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled. It stood still, but I could not disc…

Of Daniel, concerning the four beasts

  • Daniel 7 In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar over Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account. Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were… (whole chapter)

Of Joseph, concerning Mary's innocence

  • Matthew 1:20–21 But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because…

Concerning the flight into Egypt

  • Matthew 2:13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

Concerning the return into Palestine

  • Matthew 2:19–22 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when…

Of Pilate's wife, concerning Jesus

  • Matthew 27:19 While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered terribly in a dream today because of Him.”

Cornelius vision, concerning Peter

  • Acts 10:3–6 One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Jo…

Peter's vision of the ceremonially unclean creatures

  • Acts 10:10–16 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of t…

Paul's vision of the man in Macedonia, crying, "Come over into Macedonia,"

  • Acts 16:9 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Relating to his going to Rome

  • Acts 23:11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”

Concerning the shipwreck, and the safety of all on board

  • Acts 28:23–24 So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others re…

Revelations by

  • Numbers 12:6 He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
  • Jeremiah 23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.
  • Joel 2:28 And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
  • Acts 2:17 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

The dreams of the butler and baker

  • Genesis 40:8–23 “We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine were three branches. As it budded…

Pharaoh

  • Genesis 41:1–36 After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, when seven cows, sleek and well-fed, came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the well-fed cows on the bank…

Interpreted by Joseph

  • Genesis 40:12–13 Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.
  • Genesis 40:18–19 Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”
  • Genesis 41:25–32 At this, Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning. Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came u…

Daniel

  • Daniel 2:16–23 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him some time, so that he could give him the interpretation. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, urging them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that…
  • Daniel 2:28–30 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these: As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Re…
  • Daniel 4 King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied. I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdo… (whole chapter)

Delusive

  • Isaiah 29:7–8 All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night, as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens fain…

False prophets pretended to receive revelations through

  • Deuteronomy 13:1–5 If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dream…
  • Jeremiah 23:25–32 “I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds? They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make…
  • Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
  • Jeremiah 29:8 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.
  • Zechariah 10:2 For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

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Word study: the Hebrew and Greek words behind “dream” →

Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible.