Bible Verses About Repentance
The Greek word for repentance in the New Testament is metanoia — literally "a change of mind," but more deeply a transformation of the whole person: mind, will, and affections turned back toward God. John the Baptist's opening proclamation and Jesus's first words in Mark's Gospel are both calls to repentance. It is the gateway to the Gospel, not a peripheral spiritual exercise.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the Church's ordinary sacramental means of repentance and restoration for baptized Catholics after grave sin. Its institution in John 20:22-23 — Jesus breathing the Spirit on the Apostles and giving them authority to forgive or retain sins — grounds the Church's sacramental practice in dominical command. But repentance itself is a daily disposition, not only a sacramental event.
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).
8 verses — Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 Challoner revision) — Public domain
And saying: The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.Mark 1:15 — Douay-Rheims
Jesus's first words in Mark's Gospel — repentance and faith are the twin entry points into the Kingdom of God.
Be penitent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.Acts 3:19 — Douay-Rheims
Peter's call to the crowds after the healing at the Beautiful Gate — repentance as the means by which sins are blotted out.
But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done.Ezekiel 18:21-22 — Douay-Rheims
Ezekiel insists that no past sin is an obstacle to God's forgiveness when genuine repentance follows — each person accountable for their own present choice.
I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.Luke 15:7 — Douay-Rheims
Jesus at the conclusion of the Parable of the Lost Sheep — heaven rejoices more over one genuine repentance than ninety-nine who feel no need of it.
Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.Joel 2:12-13 — Douay-Rheims
Joel's call to interior repentance — the heart, not the garment, is what God asks to be torn.
For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.2 Corinthians 7:10 — Douay-Rheims
Paul distinguishes godly sorrow — which leads to repentance and salvation — from worldly sorrow, which leads to despair and death.
But to the penitent he hath given the way of justice, and he hath strengthened them that were fainting in patience, and hath appointed to them the lot of truth. Turn to the Lord, and forsake thy sins.Sirach 17:24-25Deuterocanonical — Douay-Rheims
Sirach's call to repentance, including the promise that God strengthens those who return — a deuterocanonical verse on divine mercy for the repentant.
When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.John 20:22-23 — Douay-Rheims
The institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation — Christ gives the Apostles (and their successors) authority to forgive sins.
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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.