BIBLE VERSES on BITTERNESS and FORGIVENESS

Bible verses Unsplash ben-white-146947Below are Bible verses that deal with bitterness and forgiveness. May the Lord inspire you, as you prayerfully read what God has provided for guidance.

Bible Verses on Bitterness and Forgiveness:

• Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:13-14)

• Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:14-15)

• Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

• Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. (Luke 6:36-37)

• For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15)

•If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

• Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

Additional Bible Verses on This Issue:

• “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence. (Isaiah 43:25-26)

• If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

• Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. (Acts 3:19)

• “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

•For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12)

• In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)

• The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. (Daniel 9:9)

• For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

Additionally, Know That:

• The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. (Psalm 103:8-13)

• In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. (Numbers 14:19-20)

• Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. (Psalm 86:4-5)

• Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. And You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)

• The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

Remember:

• This is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:9-15)

• But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:22-24)

• He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

• And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. (Mark 11:25)

• Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him. (Luke 17:3-4)

More Bible Verses on Forgiveness:

• Then Peter came up to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22)

• This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

• 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 6:1-2)

• If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent —not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. (2 Corinthians 2:5-8)

Lastly, Prayerfully Consider:

• If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:32-37)

• You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:1-4)

• All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

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2 responses to “BIBLE VERSES on BITTERNESS and FORGIVENESS

  1. I know that the Bible says to forgive but it is so difficult when a spouse does the same wrong over and over and over again, without apology or explanation as to why they are doing the hurtful things to the other spouse. It is so very difficult not to be resentful.

    1. I completely agree. It is very difficult to forgive when your spouse is repeating the same mistakes. I have been going through the same thing. There are things I have come to understand. One is that while we were out making the same mistakes Christ still died for us and has forgiven us, Romans 5:8 tells us that Christ died for us while we were Still sinners. Pretty amazing. If we want to model our lives after Christ the best forgiver then we need to seek him and ask for wisdom. He has forgiven all which makes him the authority on the matter(and all matters), also we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven. Sounds easy… until you have to do it.

      So my second point is that we are going to have to ask ourselves am I willing to put aside my emotions and ego and forgive? Jesus didn’t get treated well, my friend, why should we expect to be treated any different? That sounded somewhat callous but what I am trying to say is we are not perfect. Jesus is perfect. Our spouses are not perfect; we will never find a perfect human who loves perfectly. Only God loves perfectly and can satisfy. Jesus needs to be our everything. We cannot put those expectations on our spouse.

      Sometimes in our relationship with God we are not having an emotional response, but we still read, we still worship and we still know He is God. Sometimes with husbands/wives we still need to love them even when the emotional response is not there. With love comes forgiveness. I have let bitterness rise up in my own marriage and I always come down to this: Do I want to waste all the love and time I have already invested on one mistake (or ten)? or do I want to triumph over my bitterness and anger and love my husband like Jesus loves me? I choose to triumph.