72 Bible Verses on Mercy

When the Bible talks about God’s mercy, it is referring to the forgiveness of sins and withholding of His wrath. God’s mercy has saved us, allows us to live holy lives, and enables us to reflect His character. As followers of Christ, our response to this should be to give thanks for His mercy and show mercy to others. By understanding mercy, we learn more about God. The following verses describe and give thanks for God’s mercy, and give instruction for how we can cultivate mercy during our walk with Christ.

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What Does the Bible Say About Mercy?

Old Testament

Exodus 25:22
There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

Exodus 33:19
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Exodus 34:6
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Deuteronomy 4:31
For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Deuteronomy 30:2–3
“and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.”

Joshua 11:20
For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

2 Samuel 22:26
“With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless.”

2 Samuel 24:14
Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

2 Chronicles 30:9
“For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Nehemiah 9:31
“Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.”

Psalm 18:25
With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless.

Psalm 30:10
“Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”

Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 25:6
Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.

Psalm 40:11
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!

Psalm 51:1
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 57:1
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.

Psalm 69:16
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 103:2–4
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

Psalm 103:8
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 111:4
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.

Psalm 112:4
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

Psalm 116:5
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.

Psalm 119:77
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.

Psalm 119:156
Great is your mercy, O Lord;
give me life according to your rules.

Psalm 145:8–9
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Jeremiah 3:12
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
I will not be angry forever.

Joel 2:13
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.

Daniel 9:9
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.

Daniel 9:18
“O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”

Zechariah 7:9
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another.”

New Testament

Matthew 5:7
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Matthew 9:13
“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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.

Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Mark 5:19
And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Luke 1:50
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

Romans 9:16–18
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 11:30–32
For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Romans 12:1
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.

Romans 12:6–8
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Ephesians 2:4–5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

Titus 3:4–5
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 2:17
Therefore [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 8:12
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”

James 2:13
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 3:17
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

James 5:11
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

2 John 1:3
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Jude 1:20–23
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.