Verse collection
Bible verses about forgiveness
Thirteen verses on forgiveness, shortest first: half about being forgiven, half about doing the forgiving, because the Bible never separates the two for long.
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Forgiveness in Scripture runs in two directions and always in the same order: we forgive because we have been forgiven. The verses below start with how completely God forgives, as far as east from west, and then ask the hard thing of us with that as the reason. Every verse below is quoted from the Berean Standard Bible with a line of context. If there is someone you are trying to forgive, memorize one of the short ones and say it daily; the words tend to work on the person saying them.
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
David, after confessing. The first word is blessed, and the verse is about the relief of being forgiven, not the ordeal of confessing.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
The line from the Lord's Prayer. Note the tense: as we also have forgiven, past tense, as if it has already been done before we ask.
Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away
Peter, preaching in the temple courts. Wiped away is the language of a debt cancelled, not a debt deferred.
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
The verse most people learn first on this subject. Kindness and tenderness come before forgiving, and the measure is how God forgave you.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
East and west never meet, which is the point of the picture. North and south would have had a limit.
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Bearing with comes first, forgiving second, and the standard is the same one Paul gives the Ephesians: as the Lord forgave you.
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
God speaking about Himself. Remembers your sins no more is not a lapse of memory; it is a decision not to bring them up again.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The verse to know when you have failed and are not sure what to do next. Confess, and the forgiveness is described as an act of justice, not only of mercy.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Three pairs from the Sermon on the Plain. Forgive, and you will be forgiven is the one that costs something, which is why it is last.
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.
If God kept the record, no one could stand. He does not, and the psalm says the forgiveness is what makes Him worth fearing at all.
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.
Jesus links forgiving others to prayer itself: deal with the grudge while you are standing there, before you say anything else.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
The commentary Jesus gives right after the Lord's Prayer, and the sternest thing He says on the subject. A forgiven person who will not forgive has not understood what happened.
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
The prophet's amazed question, who is a God like You, answered by what God does with sins: casts them into the depths of the sea. The longest passage here and the most lavish.
Word counts use this site's counting rule in the Berean Standard Bible. Each reference links to the verse in its chapter, because a verse understood in context lands better than a verse alone. Where a verse is quoted on its own, a trailing comma or a quotation mark left unbalanced is dropped (Acts 3:19, Mark 11:25).
Keep the words close
Forgiving someone is rarely done once; it is done again each time the memory comes back, and a verse you know by heart is the tool for that moment. The five-step method takes a few minutes a day: hear the verse aloud, say it while more and more words hide themselves, and finish by reciting it from just the reference. Start with Psalm 32:1 or Ephesians 4:32.
Questions
What does the Bible say about forgiveness?
It says two things and keeps them together. God forgives completely: as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12), and if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). And because of that, we are to forgive others in the same way: be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32).
Does the Bible say I have to forgive someone who is not sorry?
Jesus ties forgiving others to our own being forgiven without adding a condition about the other person: forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37), and if you hold anything against another, forgive it (Mark 11:25). Forgiveness in these verses is something the forgiver does, releasing the debt, and it is distinct from reconciliation, which takes two. You can do the first while the second is still out of reach.
Which Bible verse about forgiveness should I memorize first?
Ephesians 4:32 is seventeen words and the one most people know: Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. If you need a verse about being forgiven rather than forgiving, 1 John 1:9 is the one to learn. A few minutes of practice a day makes either permanent within a week.
Half remember a different verse?
The words don't need to match exactly, just type what you remember.