What Does the Bible Say About Forgiving One Another?

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 139 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:13 ESV / 86 helpful votes

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.

Colossians 3:12-13 ESV / 75 helpful votes

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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.

Luke 17:3-4 ESV / 71 helpful votes

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.”

Luke 6:37 ESV / 65 helpful votes

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

Mark 11:25 ESV / 61 helpful votes

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.”

Ephesians 4:26 ESV / 54 helpful votes

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Matthew 18:21-35 ESV / 47 helpful votes

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 times seven. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ...

Luke 6:27 ESV / 31 helpful votes

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 28 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Colossians 3:19 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Matthew 18:21-22 ESV / 27 helpful votes

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 times seven.

Proverbs 25:21-22 ESV / 25 helpful votes

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Matthew 5:21-24 ESV / 21 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 20 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 18 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

John 3:16 ESV / 16 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 22:39 ESV / 16 helpful votes

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Colossians 3:8 ESV / 15 helpful votes

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Ephesians 4:31 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Matthew 5:19 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Acts 7:59-60 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Matthew 6:12 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 13 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Proverbs 15:18 ESV / 13 helpful votes

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

Psalm 103:12 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

John 13:34-35 ESV / 12 helpful votes

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Mark 11:25-27 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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.” And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

Proverbs 3:6 ESV / 11 helpful votes

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

John 9:31 ESV / 10 helpful votes

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

Luke 23:34 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Proverbs 20:30 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.

Daniel 1:1-21 ESV / 9 helpful votes

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. ...

Isaiah 55:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Nehemiah 9:17 ESV / 8 helpful votes

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Mark 3:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Isaiah 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ...

Judges 7:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.

Bible Verses about Forgiving One Another