Someone recently said, “As the Bible tells us, we know that the truth will prevail.”
I know little of the Bible. Does it really say that?
Truth is like justice, fairness, decency, etc. - in the real world, sometimes it wins, sometimes not. Might may not actually make right, but sometimes it closes the discussion.
I can’t find “the truth will prevail” in a quick search. Limiting to just “truth” gives a lot of results but not really anything related: BibleGateway.com - Keyword Search
I searched a few other common versions (KJV) among them. I think it’s just a phrase.
Edit: ninja’d
What is truth, said jesting Pilate and stayed not for an answer. I often think there is more wisdom in that remark of Pilate’s than in the whole rest of the Bible. As to the question I can’t find anything in the OT or NT which says that truth will prevail. Sure, there are texts which may have that implication but nothing in those precise words.
md2000, the subject line of the thread confused me for a bit, too. But the OP isn’t asking whether truth actually does prevail; only whether the Bible says that it does.
This question is very difficult to answer without knowing the intended context - in what situations does truth prevail?
In the short term, there are plenty of times when truth does ***not ***prevail, and Scripture mentions that many times - talks about false prophets deceiving their audiences with lies, etc.
But in the long run, especially Revelation, there is this message of a final judgment, when Jesus returns and God will sort everything out, so at the very end good wins and evil loses.
Another verse - “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
“For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.” (Matthew 24:24)
This specific bit appears to be in the Apocrypha rather than the Bible:
The question is not at all difficult to answer, because it is about whether a certain phrase occurs in the text of the Bible, not about whether truth does in fact prevail.
PatrickLondon’s link points to the answer. The phrase does not occur in the Bible as we know it today, but does appear in the First Book of Ezra, part of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha were normally included in early Bibles and were printed in the first (1611) edition of the King James Bible. But the Puritans disapproved of them, so they began to be omitted from versions around 1629 and had mostly disappeared from all Bibles by 1827.
The verse in question, according to my edition of The Apocrypha: an American Translation occurs in 1 Ezra 4:12, where three of King Darius’ bodyguards declare what thing is the strongest, for some unexplained reason believing that the king will reward the one who comes up with the best answer. The first says “wine”, the second says “the king” and third says “Women are strongest, but truth prevails over everything”.
Edit: ninja’d by PatrickLondon, but Patrick, your link doesn’t work for me. Verse 4:35 is a restatement of the earlier statement in 4:12, and says “So truth is great, and mightier than all other things”.
Ridiculous. That will never happen.
Ya know, I’m no big fan of the bible, but I think that guy Timothy just may have a point. I’m not so sure I want to read the rest of his predictions. 
I have not come across this phrase in the bible, but “Truth will Prevail” or “Truth will Triumph” is the national motto of India and present in the seal of Indian Government. cite
Its taken from Hindu scripture though, not from the Bible. Did your friend confuse the Bible with Hindu scripture ? 
That was the second epistle to Timothy. It is attributed to Paul, but could very well have been written by someone else.
It’s in the deuterocanonical book of First Esdras, which the Eastern Orthodox and Catholics include in the Old Testament, but Protestants (with the limited exception of Anglicans) generally don’t.
“Great is the truth, and it prevails.”
If you look in a standard Protestant bible like the NIV, ESV etc., you probably won’t find it.
It was also the motto of Communist Czechoslovakia, I doubt they got it from Hindu scriptures…
No. This person (who is most definitely not a friend) was speaking in front a religious group and was, I think, trying to impress the group by “quoting” the Bible.
I didn’t mention the name of the person who said it to avoid tainting your answers, but it was in the news today.
The best way to outride a scandal is to wait; eventually people — even the ones with pitchforks and torches – lose interest and forget about it.
This happens to Truth a lot.
The newsmaker’s quote from the Bible, “the truth will prevail,” is pretty sophisticated. PatrickLondon cites First Esdras, not one of the top ten books of the bible for popularity. Also apocryphal and possibly a paraphrase from Tobit: “for those who act in accordance with truth will prosper in all their activities,” (Tobit 4:6). Again, surprising familiarity for a fellow who previously used Two Corinthians for a bible quote.
Still, it is hard to give credit for an actual quote. Even the passages from Esdras, “women are strongest, but above all truth is victor” (1 Esdras 3:12) or PatrickLondon’s citation, “truth is great and stronger than all things” don’t match up well enough for a crowd of listeners who take biblical details as pretty important. Making up a platitude and calling it biblical is an old trick. But maybe there is a new translation out there I haven’t seen, and which uses that phrase as quoted.
a) If one has faith that truth will prevail, one need not defer to the Bible as the authority for saying so.
b) Reciprocally it’s kind of ironic that it be a sentiment that would be touted in such a way as to associate it with Christianity, which has such a tradition of not trusting the truth to prevail without a hell of a lot of help.
c) This should not be read as a dismissive rejection of the Bible as an item worth reading, for inspiration edification and exposure to wisdom, nor as a cynical denial that the truth will, in fact, prevail.
And just as commonly, lifting or doing a paraphrase or mash-up from some other source and calling it biblical.
Though in this case, as mentioned, under some branches of Christianity it IS a paraphrase from scripture (so a speechwriter influenced by those Christian traditions would put it in). BUT never mind that: to a general audience of non-bible-scholar American believers, “the Bible says truth will prevail” is something that they would hold self-evident as a matter of course in the sense of this being the overall message – so they would not fault someone on account of it not being a literal quote from primary sources, and they would buy into it being compatible with biblical teaching.