Bible Verses About Mercy
The Hebrew word hesed — often translated "mercy" or "steadfast love" or "lovingkindness" — is among the most theologically significant words in the Old Testament. It describes God's covenantal faithfulness and compassionate love, especially toward those who have failed. The Psalms use it hundreds of times; it is the backbone of Israel's relationship with God. In the New Testament, the Greek eleos carries similar weight, and Jesus's pronouncement "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7) makes mercy both gift and vocation.
The Catholic devotion to Divine Mercy, approved by Pope John Paul II in the canonization of Saint Faustina Kowalska, draws from John 20:22-23 and the mystical tradition she received, but its root is in this extensive biblical witness to God's mercy as his most characteristic attribute.
Note: 1 verse on this page is from the deuterocanonical books — books included in the Catholic Bible but absent from most Protestant translations (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees).
9 verses — Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 Challoner revision) — Public domain
Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.Psalm 136:1 — Douay-Rheims
The refrain of the great Hallel psalm, repeated twenty-six times — God's mercy as the unchanging ground of praise.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.Matthew 5:7 — Douay-Rheims
The fifth Beatitude — mercy is both practiced and received in an ongoing exchange.
The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.Lamentations 3:22-23 — Douay-Rheims
Written in the devastation of Jerusalem's fall — yet in this extremity the author finds God's mercies renewed each morning.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.Luke 6:36 — Douay-Rheims
Jesus grounds the command to mercy in the very character of God the Father — mercy is a participation in divine life.
Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? He will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy.Micah 7:18 — Douay-Rheims
Micah's incomparability hymn — God's mercy is not reluctant concession but his delight.
Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost.Titus 3:5 — Douay-Rheims
Paul traces salvation directly to God's mercy — and explicitly names baptism as its instrument.
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in truth.Sirach 2:11Deuterocanonical — Douay-Rheims
Sirach's summary of God's character — mercy, compassion, and protection for those who seek him.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.Psalm 51:1-2 — Douay-Rheims
The Miserere — the great penitential psalm calling on God's mercy, prayed daily in the Church's liturgy.
For he saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.Romans 9:15-16 — Douay-Rheims
Paul insists that God's mercy is sovereign — it cannot be earned or compelled, only received.
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Source
All verse texts from the Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 Challoner revision), public domain. The Douay-Rheims is the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate.