What Does the Bible Say About Gentleness?

Titus 3:2 ESV / 87 helpful votes

To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

1 Peter 3:15 ESV / 84 helpful votes

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Psalm 18:35 ESV / 52 helpful votes

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 ESV / 49 helpful votes

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

James 3:17 ESV / 43 helpful votes

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 32 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Matthew 11:29 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Galatians 5:22 ESV / 24 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

2 Corinthians 10:1 ESV / 23 helpful votes

I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV / 22 helpful votes

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;

James 1:19-20 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 40:11 ESV / 19 helpful votes

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

2 Samuel 22:36 ESV / 16 helpful votes

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.

1 Thessalonians 2:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

Colossians 3:12 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Titus 3:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

John 3:16 ESV / 12 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.

Micah 6:8 ESV / 12 helpful votes

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Colossians 3:12-15 ESV / 11 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. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Galatians 5:25 ESV / 10 helpful votes

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:23 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 9 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

James 2:12-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 1:21 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

Romans 15:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

John 14:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 13:34-35 ESV / 8 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.”

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 8 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Isaiah 53:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

2 Peter 2:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

2 Peter 2:9-11 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 7 helpful votes

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

1 Timothy 6:11 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Hebrews 13:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Philippians 4:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Philippians 3:20 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 1:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Acts 20:35 ESV / 6 helpful votes

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Acts 17:11 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 15:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Matthew 5:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Isaiah 42:2-3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

Jude 1:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

James 4:11-12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Romans 12:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 3:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

In their paths are ruin and misery,

Mark 16:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

1 Timothy 6:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Bible Verses about Gentleness