Daily Verses of God: Revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb

May 20

The peace that hath shone forth from the Dayspring of the Will of God, the Lord of all being, and the light that hath dawned above the horizon of His supreme mercy and His resplendent signs rest upon you, [1] O ye who are the hands of His power in the kingdom of creation and the manifestations of His grandeur between earth and heaven!

Ye are they who were awakened by the gentle winds of the dawn of Revelation and were enraptured by the voice of Him Who spoke on Sinai. Ye are they who inhaled the fragrance of the All-Merciful when it wafted from the realm of divine knowledge. By your guidance the thirsty hastened to the onrushing waters of everlasting life and the sinner to the vivifying river of forgiveness and mercy. Ye are the signs of God and His straight Path amongst His creation. Through you all faces turned to the Most Exalted Horizon and every poor one sought the Wellspring of wealth.

At your suffering all things lamented, and every atom cried out between earth and heaven, and Adam forsook the Most Exalted Paradise and chose for Himself a place upon the dust. Ye are the dawning-places of power amidst the people and the daysprings of might amongst the righteous. Through you the springtime of inner meaning appeared in the world of utterance and the All-Merciful shed His effulgent splendour upon all created things.

- Baha’u’llah (Extract from a Tablet of Visitation for Mullá Husayn and Quddús; ‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

[1] Mullá Husayn and Quddús

May 19

The purpose of that which hath been sent down from the heaven of the Will of God in this most exalted, this most holy Revelation, is the unity of the world and love and fellowship among its peoples.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

May 18

O Son of Being! Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.

- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)

May 17

You have asked regarding the heavenly books. The pulse of the world is in the hand of the skillful physician. He diagnoses the illness and wisely prescribes the remedy. Every day has its own secret, and every tongue a melody. The illness of today has one cure and that of tomorrow another. Look ye upon this day, and consider, and discuss its needs. One sees that existence is afflicted with innumerable ailments, compelling it to lie upon the bed of suffering. Men who are intoxicated with the wine of self-contemplation prevent the wise physician from reaching the patient. Thus they cause themselves and the world to suffer. They know not the ailment nor recognize the remedy. They take the wrong for the right, the crooked for the straight, the enemy for the friend.

Harken ye to the melody of this Prisoner! Stand up and proclaim; perchance those who are asleep may awaken. Say, O ye dead ones, the generous hand of the Almighty is passing around the water of eternal life. Hasten ye and drink. Whosoever becomes alive in this Day shall never die, and whosoever dies in this Day can never find life.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Baha'i Scriptures’)

May 16

O Pen of the Most High! Hearken unto the Call of Thy Lord, raised from the Divine Lote-Tree in the holy and luminous Spot, that the sweet accents of Thy Lord, the All-Merciful, may fill Thy soul with joy and fervour, and that the breezes that waft from My name, the Ever-Forgiving, may dispel Thy cares and sorrows. Raise up, then, from this Temple, the temples of the Oneness of God, that they may tell out, in the kingdom of creation, the tidings of their Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, and be of them that are illumined by His light.

- Baha’u’llah (Súriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

May 15

How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and will, ere long, gather together the whole of mankind beneath its shelter. Thy day of service is now come… Arise for the triumph of My Cause, and, through the power of thine utterance, subdue the hearts of men. Thou must show forth that which will ensure the peace and the well-being of the miserable and the downtrodden. Gird up the loins of thine endeavour, that perchance thou mayest release the captive from his chains, and enable him to attain unto true liberty.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

May 14

The Tongue of Wisdom proclaimeth: He that hath Me not is bereft of all things. Turn ye away from all that is on earth and seek none else but Me. I am the Sun of Wisdom and the Ocean of Knowledge. I cheer the faint and revive the dead. I am the guiding Light that illumineth the way. I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty. I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight.

- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh’s Responses to Mánikchí Sáhib and Other Writings’)

May 13

Suffer me not, O my Lord, to be deprived of the knowledge of Thee in Thy days, and divest me not of the robe of Thy guidance. Give me to drink of the river that is life indeed, whose waters have streamed forth from the Paradise (Riḍván) in which the throne of Thy Name, the All-Merciful, was established, that mine eyes may be opened, and my face be illumined, and my heart be assured, and my soul be enlightened, and my steps be made firm.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)

May 12

We cherish the hope that through the earnest endeavours of such as are the exponents of the power of God—exalted be His glory—the weapons of war throughout the world may be converted into instruments of reconstruction and that strife and conflict may be removed from the midst of men.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

May 11

Hast thou heard anyone of old passing a judgement similar to the one thou didst contrive or like unto that whereto thou didst give thine assent? Woe then unto the oppressors! Both thine intentions and the manner in which thou dealest with the people clearly demonstrate thine infidelity towards God, hence He hath ordained a severe chastisement for thee. Verily I seek patience only in God, and Him do I regard as the goal of My desire. This signifieth that I have the undoubted Truth on My side.

- The Báb (From an Epistle to Muhammad Shah of Persia, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

May 10

Glory is due unto God, the Discoverer, who, through one shower of the ocean of His Generosity, expanded the firmament of existence, begemmed it with the stars of knowledge and summoned the people to the most high court of perception and understanding!

This shower, which is the Primal Word of the Almighty, is sometimes called the Water of Life, for it quickens the dead souls in the desert of ignorance with the spring of intelligence. Sometimes it is called the First Emanation which appears from the Sun of Wisdom, and when it began to shine the first movement became manifest and known; then phenomena stepped into the arena of existence and these appearances were through the generosity of the incomparable, the Wise One. He is the Knower, the Giver! He is sanctified and holy above every statement and attribute! The seen and the unseen fail to attain the measure of His understanding. The world of being and whatever has issued from it bears witness to this utterance.

Therefore, it has become known that the First Bestowal of the Almighty is the Word. The receiver and acceptor of it is the understanding. It is the First Instructor in the University of Existence and it is the Primal Emanation of God. Whatever has appeared is through the reflection of its Light and whatever is manifested is the appearance of its Wisdom. All the names originate in His Name and the beginnings and endings of all affairs are in His Hand.

- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 1, no. 1, March 21, 1910)

May 9

It is binding and incumbent upon the peoples of the world, one and all, to extend aid unto this momentous Cause which is come from the heaven of the Will of the ever-abiding God, that perchance the fire of animosity which blazeth in the hearts of some of the peoples of the earth may, through the living waters of divine wisdom and by virtue of heavenly counsels and exhortations, be quenched, and the light of unity and concord may shine forth and shed its radiance upon the world.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

May 8

Great is the blessedness of that divine that hath not allowed knowledge to become a veil between him and the One Who is the Object of all knowledge, and who, when the Self-Subsisting appeared, hath turned with a beaming face towards Him. He, in truth, is numbered with the learned. The inmates of Paradise seek the blessing of his breath, and his lamp sheddeth its radiance over all who are in heaven and on earth. He, verily, is numbered with the inheritors of the Prophets. He that beholdeth him hath, verily, beheld the True One, and he that turneth towards him hath, verily, turned towards God, the Almighty, the All-Wise.

- Baha’u’llah (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

May 7

Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him.

- Baha’u’llah (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

May 6

These are the melodies, sung by Jesus, Son of Mary, in accents of majestic power in the Ridván of the Gospel, revealing those signs that must needs herald the advent of the Manifestation after Him. In the first Gospel according to Matthew it is recorded: And when they asked Jesus concerning the signs of His coming, He said unto them: “Immediately after the oppression [The Greek word used (Thlipsis) has two meanings: pressure and oppression] of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.” [Matthew 24:29–31]

- Baha’u’llah (‘Kitab-i-Iqan’)

May 5

Number him, then, O my God, with such as have allowed nothing whatever to deter them from beholding Thy beauty, or from meditating on the wondrous evidences of Thine everlasting handiwork, that he may have fellowship with none except Thee, and turn to naught save Thyself, and discover in whatever hath been created by Thee in the kingdoms of earth and heaven nothing but Thy wondrous Beauty and the revelation of the splendors of Thy face, and be so immersed beneath the billowing oceans of Thine overruling providence and the surging seas of Thy holy unity, that he will forget every mention except the mention of Thy transcendent oneness, and banish from his soul the traces of all evil suggestions, O Thou in Whose hands are the kingdoms of all names and attributes!

- Bahá’u’lláh (Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh; compilation: ‘Prayer and Devotional Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, February 2019)

May 4

Gather ye together with the utmost joy and fellowship and recite the verses revealed by the merciful Lord. By so doing the doors to true knowledge will be opened to your inner beings, and ye will then feel your souls endowed with steadfastness and your hearts filled with radiant joy.

- Bahá’u’lláh (compilation: ‘Prayer and Devotional Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, February 2019)

May 3

By My life and My Cause! Round about whatever dwelling the friends of God may enter, and from which their cry shall rise as they praise and glorify the Lord, shall circle the souls of true believers and all the favoured angels. And should the door of the true eye be opened unto some, they shall witness the Supreme Concourse as it circleth and crieth: “Blessed art thou, O house, for God hath made thee a resting-place for those He favoureth, and a lodging for those He holdeth dear, and a home for those in whom He hath placed His trust. Unto thee be His praise and His glory and His endless grace.”

- Baha’u’llah (compilation: ‘The Institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, September 2017; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Centre)

May 2

Blessed are they that occupy themselves in the House of Worship with the remembrance of Him Who is the Lord of the righteous! Blessed are they that arise in the service of this House! Blessed are they that have raised up this House! They enter therein in a state of peace and yearning, and take their leave therefrom with reluctance and regret. We beseech God, immeasurably exalted is He, Our Lord and your Lord, to assist you by means both visible and invisible, and to ordain for you that which shall last as long as His name shall endure, a name that overshadoweth all other names. No God is there but Him, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Merciful.

May 1

Wert thou to incline thine inner ear unto all created things, thou wouldst hear: ‘The Ancient of Days is come in His great glory!’ Everything celebrateth the praise of its Lord. Some have known God and remember Him; others remember Him, yet know Him not. Thus have We set down Our decree in a perspicuous Tablet.

- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet addressed to Napoleon III, ‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

April 30

O Living Temple! Arise by the power of Thy Self in such wise that all created things will be moved to arise with Thee. Aid, then, Thy Lord through such ascendancy and might as We have bestowed upon Thee. Take heed lest Thou falter on that Day when all created things are filled with dismay; rather be Thou the revealer of My name, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Assist Thy Lord to the utmost of Thine ability, and pay no heed to the peoples of the world, for that which their mouths utter is like unto the droning of a gnat in an endless valley. Quaff the water of life in My name, the All-Merciful, and proffer unto the near ones amongst the inmates of this lofty station that which shall cause them to become detached from all names and enter beneath this blessed and all-encompassing shadow.

- Baha’u’llah (Súriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

April 29

In every country where any of this people reside, they must behave towards the government of that country with loyalty, honesty and truthfulness. This is that which hath been revealed at the behest of Him Who is the Ordainer, the Ancient of Days.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

April 28

If the wayfarers be among them that dwell in THE COURT OF THE ALL-PRAISED, this is the station of the Intellect, which is known as the messenger of the realm of the body and the most great pillar. That which is intended, however, is the universal divine Intellect, whose sovereignty fostereth the growth of all things, and not every vain and feeble mind. Thus hath the wise Saná’í [a Persian poet] written:

How can meagre reason comprehend the Book,

Or the spider trap a phoenix in its web?

Wouldst thou that the mind not hold thee in its snare?

Seize it and enrol it in the school of God instead!

- Baha’u’llah (‘The Four Valleys’, revised translation by the Baha’i World Center; included in ‘The Call of the Divine Beloved’)

April 27

O people! Words must be supported by deeds, for deeds are the true test of words. Without the former, the latter can never quench the thirst of the yearning soul, nor unlock the portals of vision before the eyes of the blind. The Lord of celestial wisdom saith: A harsh word is even as a sword thrust; a gentle word as milk. The latter leadeth the children of men unto knowledge and conferreth upon them true distinction.

- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh’s Responses to Mánikchí Sáhib and Other Writings’)

April 26

Verily, the breezes of forgiveness have been wafted from the direction of your Lord, the God of Mercy; whoso turneth thereunto, shall be cleansed of his sins, and of all pain and sickness. Happy the man that hath turned towards them, and woe betide him that hath turned aside.

- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet addressed to Napoleon III, ‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)