What Does the Bible Say About Mercy?

Mercy is God's compassionate response to human misery and sin — not giving us the punishment we deserve. It is closely related to grace and love.

Key Verse: Lamentations 3:22-23

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Old Testament Perspective

God's mercy is a defining attribute revealed at Sinai: 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love' (Exodus 34:6).

New Testament Perspective

Jesus embodied mercy, healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and teaching that the merciful will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7).

15 Key Bible Verses About Mercy

Lamentations 3:22-23: "It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."
Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Ephesians 2:4-5: "But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),"
Hebrews 4:16: "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need."
Psalm 103:8: "Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness."
Luke 6:36: "“Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful."
Psalm 136:1: "Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever."
Titus 3:5: "not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,"
Daniel 9:9: "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him."
Isaiah 30:18: "Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him."
Matthew 5:7: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
James 2:13: "For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."
Psalm 51:1: "Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions."
Exodus 34:6-7: "Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”"
Romans 9:15-16: "For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy."

What Does the Bible Say About Mercy?

Key Verse: Lamentations 3:22-23

Old Testament Perspective

New Testament Perspective

15 Key Bible Verses About Mercy

Video: What the Bible Says About Mercy

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