Bible Verses for Forgiving Someone Who Hurt You
You know you’re supposed to forgive. Knowing doesn’t make it possible — not on your own strength, anyway. The Bible is honest that forgiveness is both a decision and a process, and it starts with remembering how much you’ve been forgiven.
Forgiving someone who hurt you is the hardest obedience there is. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you,” and Psalm 103:12 shows how God does it: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!
As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
A man’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.
Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
Forgiveness does not require reconciliation
This is the part that sets people free: forgiving someone and trusting them again are different things. Forgiveness releases the debt; trust is rebuilt on evidence. You can forgive your father and still set boundaries. You can forgive your friend and not re-open the door.
For the days it won’t stay forgiven
Peter asked Jesus if seven times was enough, and heard “seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22) — which includes, some days, forgiving the same memory again. That isn’t failure. That’s the practice. Luke 6:37 keeps it short: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
A prayer for the one I can’t seem to forgive
Lord, You know what they did and what it cost me. I cannot manufacture forgiveness, so I ask You to grow it in me. Loosen my grip on this hurt, one finger at a time. Remind me how much I have been forgiven. Free me from replaying it. Do in me what I cannot do in myself. Make me whole again. Amen.
Carrying this for someone?
Light a candle for her — a small flame to return to each day, no account needed.