These Bible Verses For Forgiving Others are for the moments when you know you should let go of a hurt but cannot quite do it yet. They give you words to pray, reasons to keep going, and reminders that God helps us release what we cannot release on our own. Read them slowly and return to them as often as the memory of the wrong comes back.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:44 (KJV)
Jesus tells us to pray for those who mistreat us, a practical first step when forgiving still feels out of reach.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 (KJV)
This prayer asks God to search the heart and show any wicked way, helpful when resentment keeps lingering.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalms 51:10 (KJV)
David asks God to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit, words to pray when bitterness has taken root.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Hebrews 12:14-15 (KJV)
The writer urges peace with all and warns that a root of bitterness can spring up and trouble many.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Ephesians 4:31 (KJV)
Bitterness, wrath, anger and clamour are named as things to put away, which is where forgiving often begins.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Ephesians 4:26-27 (KJV)
Not letting the sun go down on your anger is practical counsel for dealing with a hurt before it hardens.
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)
Remembering how God forgave us in Christ gives both the reason and the pattern for forgiving others.
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)
Forbearing and forgiving one another as Christ forgave is a daily practice worth praying over by name.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
James 1:19-20 (KJV)
Being swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath helps when someone has just offended you.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)
Bringing each hurt to God in prayer opens the way to a peace that guards the heart and mind.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 (KJV)
Fervent love among believers covers a multitude of sins, an encouragement to let love lead the way.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (KJV)
Love suffers long and thinks no evil, a description to pray through when forgiveness is difficult.
Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Romans 12:14 (KJV)
Paul says to bless those who persecute you, and to bless rather than curse.
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Luke 6:27-28 (KJV)
Jesus asks us to do good to those who hate us and pray for those who use us badly.
Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.
Proverbs 20:22 (KJV)
Instead of planning to repay evil, we are told to wait on the Lord, who will save.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19 (KJV)
God invites His people to stop dwelling on former things and watch for the new thing He is doing.
So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
2 Corinthians 2:7-8 (KJV)
Paul urges the church to forgive and comfort an offender so he is not overwhelmed with sorrow.
Start by praying the verses honestly. Psalm 139:23-24 and Psalm 51:10 let you ask God to show you what is really in your heart, including anger you would rather not admit. You do not have to feel forgiving before you pray; Jesus simply tells us to pray for those who hurt us (Matthew 5:44). Praying for someone by name, even briefly, often softens the heart over time.
Next, choose one or two verses to keep close. Write Ephesians 4:32 or Colossians 3:13 on a card, set it as a phone reminder, or memorise it. When the offence replays in your mind, read the verse aloud and hand the matter back to God, remembering that vengeance belongs to Him (Romans 12:19).
Forgiveness can also take time. You may need to forgive the same hurt many times as it resurfaces, which is part of what seventy times seven means. Forgiving does not always mean returning to an unsafe situation; where there is abuse or danger, seek help from a pastor, counselor or other trusted professional. Talk with a mature believer you trust, and let Philippians 4:6-7 remind you that God’s peace can guard your heart while the healing continues.
Ephesians 4:32 works well prayed by naming the specific person, asking for the ability to forgive as you have been forgiven.
Some of the same ground is covered in Bible Verses About Powerful Prayer and Bible Verses About Having Faith.
Want the wider context? The complete King James Version is available at Blue Letter Bible.
For a related angle, see Bible Verses For Husbands and Wives or Bible Verses For Death.
Bible Verses For Hard Times and Bible Verses About Motivation are good companions to this page.
Bible Verses For Change and Bible Verses For Strength During Trials explore related themes.
If you want to keep reading, Bible Verses For Forgiving Yourself and Bible Verses About Forgiving Yourself sit close to this topic.
To see how other translations render these lines, look them up on Bible Gateway.
For word studies and cross-references, Bible Hub is a helpful next step.
Return to this verse as often as needed while you work through forgiving that person.
These verses were never meant to sit on a page as decoration \u2014 they’re meant to shape how you actually respond the next time you thought you’d already forgiven someone until the same old anger resurfaced.
You don’t need polished or formal language for it \u2014 an honest, plainly worded sentence is enough, something as simple as telling God directly for forgiveness that holds, not just forgiveness that fades and returns.
When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses out of jealousy, God struck Miriam with leprosy as judgment (Numbers 12:1-10). Rather than letting her suffer as payback for her words, Moses immediately cried out, “Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee” (Numbers 12:13). God still required a seven-day period outside the camp, but Moses did not withhold his own plea on her behalf, even though her words had questioned his leadership publicly.
Among Bible Verses For Forgiving Others, this account stands out because the wrong done to Moses was public and humiliating, yet his very next recorded words were a prayer for his sister’s healing. Bible Verses For Forgiving Others sometimes look exactly like this: responding to an insult with an immediate request for the other person’s good.
Paul wrote to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, a slave who had apparently wronged him and run away, now returning as a believer. Paul asked Philemon to receive him “not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved” (Philemon 1:16), even offering to personally repay any debt Onesimus owed (Philemon 1:18-19).
This short letter is essentially one long, careful request for forgiveness and restored relationship, argued gently rather than commanded outright. It shows that Bible Verses For Forgiving Others sometimes involve a third party gently advocating for reconciliation between two people who might not reach it entirely on their own.
When the prodigal son returned home to a feast, his older brother refused to go inside, angrily reminding his father that he himself had never even received a young goat for his own friends (Luke 15:28-29). The father went out to plead with him too, saying, “it was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again” (Luke 15:32).
Jesus leaves the older brother’s response unresolved in the story, which is itself instructive. Bible Verses For Forgiving Others do not pretend that forgiving a sibling, especially one who seems to have gotten away with something, is simple or automatic, even when the father himself has already forgiven.
Unlike a stranger who wrongs you once, family members who hurt you often stay part of daily life, showing up at holidays and ordinary weeks alike, the way Moses and Miriam continued traveling together after her healing. Forgiveness in these situations cannot rely on distance to make it easier; it has to hold up at the dinner table as well as in private prayer.
This kind of forgiveness usually requires deciding in advance how you will respond the next time an old pattern repeats itself, rather than figuring it out in the heat of the moment. Bible Verses For Forgiving Others were written for exactly this ongoing, everyday kind of relationship, not only for one-time offenses from people you never have to see again.
Nothing in the Onesimus story suggests he had already made things right with Philemon before Paul intervened; the appeal itself was part of what may have opened the door to genuine repentance. Sometimes forgiveness has to move forward even while waiting for the other person to fully own what happened, rather than only after a complete and satisfying confession has been offered.
This does not mean pretending nothing occurred, but it does mean not making your own forgiveness conditional on someone else finally admitting fault the way you would prefer. Bible Verses For Forgiving Others repeatedly show mercy extended before a situation is fully resolved on the other side.
Lord, I thought I had already let this go, yet the same old resentment keeps returning whenever I am reminded of what happened. Give me Moses’ quickness to pray for someone’s good even right after being wronged by them. Help me not to be like the older brother, keeping a private account of what feels unfair.
If reconciliation is even possible here, soften both hearts the way Paul hoped for Philemon and Onesimus. Whatever this costs me, help it cost me less than carrying the anger has already cost me for so long. Amen.
These steps will not make the memory disappear instantly, but they help Bible Verses For Forgiving Others become a repeated practice rather than a single test you either pass or fail once and for all.
Day 1: Numbers 12:1-15, Moses praying for Miriam’s healing. Day 2: The book of Philemon, Paul’s appeal for Onesimus. Day 3: Luke 15:25-32, the older brother’s struggle. Day 4: Genesis 45:1-15, Joseph’s tearful reunion with his brothers. Day 5: Ephesians 4:29-32, Paul’s instructions on kindness and forgiveness.
Working through these five passages across a week shows how differently Bible Verses For Forgiving Others can unfold, from a sister’s healing to a slave’s welcome home as family, and each day is worth pausing over rather than rushing through.
Many assume real forgiveness means the memory should stop affecting them emotionally altogether, but the older brother’s anger surfaced even after years of faithful service in his father’s house, suggesting old feelings can resurface even in a genuinely loving relationship. Feeling a flash of hurt again does not automatically undo a real decision to forgive.
Paul’s letter to Philemon does not pretend the wrong done by Onesimus was minor or painless; it acknowledges a real debt while still asking for full acceptance. Reading Bible Verses For Forgiving Others with this pattern in mind can free someone from thinking an occasional resurfacing feeling means their earlier forgiveness was never genuine to begin with.
Some people find it helpful to keep a short, private list of names representing unresolved hurts, praying through it regularly rather than waiting for each memory to surface unexpectedly. This turns forgiveness into something proactive rather than only reactive, addressed on your own schedule instead of the memory’s own timing.
Over weeks, many people notice certain names naturally stop needing daily prayer, a quiet sign that Bible Verses For Forgiving Others are doing their slow work in a heart. For a broader collection to draw from while building this habit, Bible Verses About Forgiving Others is a helpful companion page.
Consider a few honest questions: Is there a specific trigger, like a certain place or comment, that tends to bring this old hurt back to the surface unexpectedly? Have I told God plainly that I am still struggling here, rather than pretending the matter is fully settled? Would writing a private letter I never send help me say everything I have been holding back for so long?
A final question worth sitting with is whether you expect this process to look like a single decisive moment rather than the ongoing practice Moses, Paul, and the father in Luke 15 all modeled in their own distinct ways. Bible Verses For Forgiving Others describe a process worth returning to, not a box to check once and move past entirely.
Peter had sworn he would die before he denied Jesus, and then, in a courtyard, he denied Him three times while a charcoal fire burned nearby (John 18:18, 18:25-27). After the resurrection, the disciples go fishing, and from the shore a stranger calls out to them. When they land, John notes one detail that is easy to skip: “they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread” (John 21:9).
Another fire of coals. Surely that is not an accident. Jesus feeds them first and talks afterward. Then He asks Peter, three times, “lovest thou me?” (John 21:15-17), matching the three denials one for one. There is no scolding in the exchange, and no demand that Peter explain himself. Each answer is followed by a task: feed my lambs, tend my sheep.
If you are the one who has been wronged, notice how this goes. Jesus does not pretend the denial never happened. He gives the wound a face-to-face meeting, a meal, and a way forward. Forgiving someone who failed you badly can look like that: a plain conversation with room for the person to say what is true, and then a real invitation back into something useful. It does not always happen over a fire on a beach, but the shape is worth remembering.
David was on his way with four hundred armed men to wipe out Nabal's household after Nabal insulted him and refused help (1 Samuel 25:10-13, 25:21-22). Abigail, Nabal's wife, met him on the road with donkeys loaded with bread, wine, and dried fruit. She bowed and took the blame herself: “Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be” (1 Samuel 25:24).
Her speech is a model of calm. She does not excuse her husband, whom she describes bluntly, yet she appeals to David's better self and reminds him he would regret having innocent blood on his hands. David's answer is humbling for a future king: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me” (1 Samuel 25:32).
This story is not mainly about forgiving, but it shows what happens just before it. A mind boiling with revenge has to be interrupted. Maybe the interruption is a friend who tells you to wait twenty-four hours before sending the message. Maybe it is a sentence of Scripture that stops you in the car. Be grateful for that kind of person, and be willing to be that kind of person for someone else when their anger is about to cost them more than the original offense.
Some grudges outlive the people they were aimed at. A father has died without ever acknowledging what happened in the house. A former business partner moved away and cut off contact. There is nobody to apologize, nobody to confront, and the anger still shows up at odd moments, like when you smell a certain aftershave or drive by an old office.
Scripture is plain about where anger can settle. “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). The word “resteth” is telling. Anger is like a guest who unpacks and stays. The Psalms suggest a way to handle it that does not involve the other person at all: “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still” (Psalms 4:4).
In practice, this might mean writing a letter you never send, telling God every detail you wish the person had heard, and then deciding in your own words that you release the debt. Some people do this at a gravesite, some on a long walk. A hurt that deep may also call for a counselor, which is a sensible and faithful step. You are not excusing what happened. You are declining to let it keep running your afternoons.
Many hurts happen in places we cannot simply leave, such as a church committee, a shared office, or a small team of volunteers. Jesus gave a practical order for this: “if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother” (Matthew 18:15). Go to the person, not around the person.
That sentence cuts against a very human habit. We usually tell three friends first, rehearse the story until it hardens, and then wonder why the relationship feels poisoned. Proverbs 17:9 states the alternative plainly: “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” A private word, kindly put, gives the other person a chance to understand, apologize, or explain something you did not know.
Of course, not every situation fits. If someone has abused or threatened you, a private meeting may be unsafe, and you should involve a pastor, a supervisor, or other proper help before anything else. But in the everyday cases, where a comment stung or a task was dropped, the first step is often a short, honest conversation. Go in hoping to regain your friend, not to win. That intention changes the tone of nearly every sentence you will say.
More verse collections related to this page: Bible Verses About Forgiving Others, Bible Verses For Forgiving Yourself, Bible Verses About Praying for Others, Bible Verses For Praying for Others and Bible Verses For Comparing Yourself To Others.
If you want to dig further, Blue Letter Bible, Bible Gateway and Bible Hub are good places to start.
Start by praying the verses honestly. Psalm 139:23-24 and Psalm 51:10 let you ask God to show you what is really in your heart, including anger you would rather not admit.
This page brings together 16 King James Version references about forgiving Others, drawn from 10 different books of the Bible.
Psalm 139:23 is one of the verses about forgiving Others referenced in this collection, alongside Psalm 51:10.
Yes, the verses referenced on this page, including Psalm 139:23, are quoted according to the King James Version (KJV), and are suitable for daily reading, memorization, or devotional use.
Beyond the references highlighted on this page, forgiving Others appears throughout Scripture in books such as Psalm, Matthew, Ephesians, Colossians, Romans; this collection focuses on some of the clearest examples.
