Bible verses about forgiveness
Forgiveness in Scripture runs in two directions and the two are linked. Ephesians 4:32 tells you to forgive others as God forgave you; 1 John 1:9 promises that confessed sin is forgiven and cleansed; and Matthew 18:21-22 answers the question of how many times with seventy times seven — meaning stop counting.
12 verses about forgiveness
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32 (KJV) →9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (KJV) →21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22 (KJV) →13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Colossians 3:13 (KJV) →14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV) →10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 103:10-12 (KJV) →18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19 (KJV) →37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Luke 6:37 (KJV) →25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Isaiah 43:25 (KJV) →25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mark 11:25 (KJV) →19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:19-21 (KJV) →34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Luke 23:34 (KJV) →
Being forgiven
1 John 1:9 is unusually procedural: if we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. The two verbs matter. Forgiveness deals with the standing; cleansing deals with what the thing did to you. Psalm 103:12 gives the distance — as far as the east is from the west — which is a deliberately unmeasurable image, unlike north and south which meet at the poles. Micah 7:19 says he casts sins into the depths of the sea. Isaiah 43:25 says he blots them out and will not remember them, which is a stronger claim than being let off.
Forgiving someone else
Matthew 18:21-22 is a conversation about limits. Peter offers seven times, which was generous by the standards of the day, and is told seventy times seven. The number is not a quota to track; it is a way of saying the accounting itself is the problem. Colossians 3:13 and Ephesians 4:32 both supply the same reasoning — forgive as you have been forgiven — which places the obligation on the basis of something already received rather than on the other person deserving it.
What forgiveness is not
None of these passages require staying in reach of someone who is harming you, and none of them require pretending nothing happened. Romans 12:19 explicitly hands justice over to God rather than cancelling it — vengeance is mine, I will repay. Forgiveness in Scripture is the release of your own claim to repay, not a verdict that the wrong was small. It is also frequently slow. Luke 23:34 was spoken from a cross, which is a reminder that this is among the hardest things Scripture asks, not among the easiest.
Scripture quoted from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Esther reads the ESV, NIV and NLT in the app.