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150 Bible verses about Forgiving Enemies
Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this: “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing this, you will heap fiery coals [of shame] on his head.”
For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.
Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.” They divided up his clothes by throwing dice.
Then Kefa came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?”
“No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven!
Repay no one evil for evil, but try to do what everyone regards as good.
If possible, and to the extent that it depends on you, live in peace with all people.
not repaying evil with evil or insult with insult, but, on the contrary, with blessing. For it is to this that you have been called, so that you may receive a blessing.
If someone who hates you is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
For you will heap fiery coals [of shame] on his head, and Adonai will reward you.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Yes, this is the command we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother too.
But love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of Ha‘Elyon; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
“I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other.
Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other.”
Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful,
not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth.
Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.
So imitate God, as his dear children;
try to determine what will please the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them,
for it is shameful even to speak of the things these people do in secret.
But everything exposed to the light is revealed clearly for what it is,
since anything revealed is a light. This is why it says, “Get up, sleeper! Arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you!”
Therefore, pay careful attention to how you conduct your life — live wisely, not unwisely.
Use your time well, for these are evil days.
So don’t be foolish, but try to understand what the will of the Lord is.
Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit —
sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other; sing to the Lord and make music in your heart to him;
and live a life of love, just as also the Messiah loved us, indeed, on our behalf gave himself up as an offering, as a slaughtered sacrifice to God with a pleasing fragrance.
Never seek revenge, my friends; instead, leave that to God’s anger; for in the Tanakh it is written, “Adonai says, ‘Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay.’”
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness.
Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
“You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too!
If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.
Therefore, openly acknowledge your sins to one another, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Keep pursuing shalom with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one misses out on God’s grace, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and thus contaminates many,
He who conceals an offense promotes love, but he who harps on it can separate even close friends.
Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, if someone is on the roof with his belongings in his house, he must not go down to take them away. Similarly, if someone is in the field, he must not turn back —
remember Lot’s wife!
Whoever aims at preserving his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will stay alive.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed — one will be taken and the other left behind.
There will be two women grinding grain together — one will be taken and the other left behind.”
They asked him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Wherever there’s a dead body, that’s where the vultures gather.”
Also, if seven times in one day he sins against you, and seven times he comes to you and says, ‘I repent,’ you are to forgive him.”
And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive your offenses.”
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.
People with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense.
Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect.
“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.
or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will your Father in heaven keep giving good things to those who keep asking him!
“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.
“Go in through the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad, and many travel it;
but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
“Beware of the false prophets! They come to you wearing sheep’s clothing, but underneath they are hungry wolves!
You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a poor tree produces bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit.
Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire!
For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you.
See that no one repays evil for evil; on the contrary, always try to do good to each other, indeed, to everyone.
The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers!
Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua.
When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly.
For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation,
which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
But God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love
that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah — it is by grace that you have been delivered.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts.”
and a slave of the Lord shouldn’t fight. On the contrary, he should be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and not resentful when mistreated.
Also he should be gentle as he corrects his opponents. For God may perhaps grant them the opportunity to turn from their sins, acquire full knowledge of the truth,
“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!
When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
A fool’s anger is known at once, but a cautious person slighted conceals his feelings.
Do nothing out of rivalry or vanity; but, in humility, regard each other as better than yourselves —
we exhaust ourselves working with our own hands for our living. When we are cursed, we keep on blessing; when we are persecuted, we go on putting up with it;
You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat;
Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too.
As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’ For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.
The good person produces good things from the store of good in his heart, while the evil person produces evil things from the store of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins.
Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry;
Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations;
for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
In union with him, through the shedding of his blood, we are set free — our sins are forgiven; this accords with the wealth of the grace
Indeed, this is what you were called to; because the Messiah too suffered, on your behalf, leaving an example so that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found on his lips.”
When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly.
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself; since you who are judging do the same things he does.
“Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves.
And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed, toward everyone, just as we do toward you;
so that he may give you the inner strength to be blameless, by reason of your holiness, when you stand before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all his angels.
First of all, then, I counsel that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all human beings,
Rather, they should adorn themselves with what is appropriate for women who claim to be worshipping God, namely, good deeds.
Let a woman learn in peace, fully submitted;
but I do not permit a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over him; rather, she is to remain at peace.
For Adam was formed first, then Havah.
Also it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who, on being deceived, became involved in the transgression.
Nevertheless, the woman will be delivered through childbearing, provided that she continues trusting, loving and living a holy life with modesty.
including kings and all in positions of prominence; so that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives, being godly and upright in everything.
For “Whoever wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit,
turn from evil and do good, seek peace and chase after it.
Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah
so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary — for we are quite aware of his schemes!
I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
The King will say to them, ‘Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!’
So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves.
And again it says, “Gentiles, rejoice with his people.”
And again, “Praise Adonai, all Gentiles! Let all peoples praise him!”
And again, Yesha‘yahu says, “The root of Yishai will come, he who arises to rule Gentiles; Gentiles will put their hope in him.”
May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and shalom as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh you may overflow with hope.
Now I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and well able to counsel each other.
But on some points I have written you quite boldly by way of reminding you about them, because of the grace God has given me
to be a servant of the Messiah Yeshua for the Gentiles, with the priestly duty of presenting the Good News of God, so that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, made holy by the Ruach HaKodesh.
In union with the Messiah Yeshua, then, I have reason to be proud of my service to God;
for I will not dare speak of anything except what the Messiah has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by my words and deeds,
through the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Yerushalayim all the way to Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the Good News of the Messiah.
Each of us should please his neighbor and act for his good, thus building him up.
In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.
Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good.
He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet.
For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you.
In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
Likewise, you who are less experienced, submit to leaders. Further, all of you should clothe yourselves in humility toward one another, because God opposes the arrogant, but to the humble he gives grace.
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time he may lift you up.
Let brotherly friendship continue;
We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat.
For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.
So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood.
Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace.
For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary, we seek the one to come.
Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually. For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.
But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives, as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.
Keep praying for us, for we are certain that we have a clear conscience and want to conduct ourselves properly in everything we do.
And all the more I beg you to do this, so that I may be restored to you that much sooner.
but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels.
For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself”;
Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God.
And now, brothers, shalom! Put yourselves in order, pay attention to my advice, be of one mind, live in shalom — and the God of love and shalom will be with you.
Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War?
As the Tanakh puts it, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us.
My children, I am writing you these things so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Yeshua the Messiah, the Tzaddik, who pleads our cause with the Father.
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves;
Don’t you know that God’s people are going to judge the universe? If you are going to judge the universe, are you incompetent to judge these minor matters?
for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God.
Don’t withhold good from someone entitled to it when you have in hand the power to do it.
Brothers, I, for my part, do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward toward what lies ahead,
I keep pursuing the goal in order to win the prize offered by God’s upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.
Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose;
When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
For judgment will be without mercy toward one who doesn’t show mercy; but mercy wins out over judgment.
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.”
So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment — that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement — and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us,
For they disciplined us only for a short time and only as best they could; but he disciplines us in a way that provides genuine benefit to us and enables us to share in his holiness.
Now, all discipline, while it is happening, does indeed seem painful, not enjoyable; but for those who have been trained by it, it later produces its peaceful fruit, which is righteousness.
So, strengthen your drooping arms, and steady your tottering knees;
and make a level path for your feet; so that what has been injured will not get wrenched out of joint but rather will be healed.
Keep pursuing shalom with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one misses out on God’s grace, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and thus contaminates many,
and that no one is sexually immoral, or godless like Esav, who in exchange for a single meal gave up his rights as the firstborn.
For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to obtain his father’s blessing, he was rejected; indeed, even though he sought it with tears, his change of heart was to no avail.
For you have not come to a tangible mountain, to an ignited fire, to darkness, to murk, to a whirlwind,
to the sound of a shofar, and to a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further message be given to them —
looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua — who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”?
For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God.
In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua.
Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires;
and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness.
For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.
Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? “Let’s go on sinning, because we’re not under legalism but under grace”? Heaven forbid!
Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves — whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous?
By God’s grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed;
and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
(I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God.
Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it?
And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua.
I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit,
so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love,
Of these three, which one seems to you to have become the ‘neighbor’ of the man who fell among robbers?”
He answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Yeshua said to him, “You go and do as he did.”
God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
“You are salt for the Land. But if salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on.
“You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.
This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
A psalm of David: Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
He has me lie down in grassy pastures, he leads me by quiet water,
he restores my inner person. He guides me in right paths for the sake of his own name.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart.
and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom.
But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
for God is the one working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases him.
but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts; while remaining always ready to give a reasoned answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you — yet with humility and fear,
Some people brought him a paralyzed man lying on a mattress. When Yeshua saw their trust, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.”
so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.
So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah.
We know that everyone who has God as his Father does not go on sinning; on the contrary, the Son born of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.
For you used to be darkness; but now, united with the Lord, you are light. Live like children of light,
for the fruit of the light is in every kind of goodness, rightness and truth —
But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance,
endurance produces character, and character produces hope;
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
Moreover, my God will fill every need of yours according to his glorious wealth, in union with the Messiah Yeshua.
“What I am leaving with you is shalom — I am giving you my shalom. I don’t give the way the world gives. Don’t let yourselves be upset or frightened.
“A person whose desire rests on you you preserve in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.
Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him; then he will level your paths.
Nevertheless, brothers, I call on you in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to agree, all of you, in what you say, and not to let yourselves remain split into factions but be restored to having a common mind and a common purpose.