Bible Verses About Forgiveness

Discover the power of forgiveness through these scriptures. God's word teaches us how to forgive others and receive God's mercy.

Theme Overview

Forgiveness Is a Theme People Arrive Through Different Needs

People rarely search for forgiveness in the abstract. They come looking for Scripture because a real moment has made this theme urgent, personal, or newly difficult to hold.

That is why this page works best as a hub. It gives you a grounded place to begin, then helps you move toward the passages, guides, and related themes that fit your present need more closely.

Use the core verses below as your starting point, then explore the next step that feels most relevant for prayer, reflection, sharing, or everyday encouragement.

Forgiveness Often Means

Forgiveness Feels Impossible Never Apologized Forgiving Family After Repeated Hurt Forgiving Seventy Seven Times Forgiveness and Trust Bitterness Keeps Returning Forgive While Telling the Truth Gods Forgiveness for My Failure Forgiveness Vs Denial Want to Forgive but Still Angry

Core Verses

Start With These Foundational Passages

These verses give you a clear starting point before moving into more specific guides or related themes.

Core Verse 1

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Forgiveness is connected to mercy and tenderness, not to pretending the hurt never happened.

Core Verse 2

Colossians 3:13

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

This verse acknowledges that people really do have grievances, then calls us into a different response.

Core Verse 3

Matthew 6:14–15

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

A grounding passage to help you understand how Scripture speaks about forgiveness.

Core Verse 4

Matthew 18:21–22

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

A grounding passage to help you understand how Scripture speaks about forgiveness.

Core Verse 5

Mark 11:25

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

A grounding passage to help you understand how Scripture speaks about forgiveness.

Core Verse 6

Luke 6:37

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

A grounding passage to help you understand how Scripture speaks about forgiveness.

Explore by Need

Keep Exploring Forgiveness Through Related Paths

Guide

Forgiveness Guide

Read a longer article built around forgiveness and how these verses can be used in prayer, reflection, and daily life.

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Theme

Love Theme

Move from forgiveness into love when your need overlaps with a closely related area of Scripture.

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Theme

Mercy Theme

Move from forgiveness into mercy when your need overlaps with a closely related area of Scripture.

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Theme

Family Theme

Move from forgiveness into family when your need overlaps with a closely related area of Scripture.

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Create

Create Forgiveness Artwork

Turn one of these verses about forgiveness into a shareable piece of Scripture art.

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Artworks

Browse Public Artworks

See how Scripture has been turned into reflective, visual pieces you can return to and share.

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Featured Scriptures

Top 3

Featured #1

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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Featured #2

Colossians 3:13

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

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Featured #3

Matthew 6:14–15

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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All Verses

Matthew 18:21–22

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Mark 11:25

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

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Luke 6:37

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

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Luke 17:3–4

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

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1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Psalm 103:12

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

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#10

Isaiah 43:25

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

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#11

Micah 7:18–19

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

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#12

Psalm 32:5

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

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#13

1 John 2:1–2

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

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#14

2 Corinthians 5:18–19

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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#15

Daniel 9:9

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him

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#16

Matthew 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

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#17

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

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#18

Proverbs 17:9

Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

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#19

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

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#20

Romans 12:17–21

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Editorial Notes

How to Read These Verses

Forgiveness in scripture operates in two directions: receiving God's forgiveness, and extending forgiveness to others. These are related but distinct, and the verses in this collection address both. The harder one, for most people, is the second.

Ephesians 4:32 — "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" — grounds the command to forgive in the experience of having been forgiven. The logic is: you have received something; now give it. The standard is high — "as God in Christ forgave you" — but the motivation is also high.

Matthew 18:21-22 is the most challenging passage in this collection. Peter asks how many times he should forgive — "as many as seven times?" — and Jesus answers "seventy-seven times" (or seventy times seven, depending on translation). The point is not arithmetic; it's the removal of a limit. Forgiveness, in Jesus's framework, is not a finite resource that runs out. It's a practice without a ceiling.

Matthew 6:14-15 is the most uncomfortable verse here: "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." This is not a transaction — it's a description of how forgiveness works. A person who has genuinely received forgiveness becomes capable of giving it. A person who refuses to give it may not have fully received it.

1 John 1:9 is the most personal verse in this collection: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The promise is unconditional on God's side — faithful and just, not merely willing. The condition is confession: bringing what is true into the open.