Use these Bible verses on compassion to see how you can experience God’s compassion and how you can be compassionate toward others in your life.
We serve a God who is filled with compassion for His people. We see it all throughout Scripture, both in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. We can find so many Bible verses about compassion.
From the moment that Adam and Eve fell prey to sin, He covered their nakedness, and sent them out of the garden so that they might not eat from the tree of life, and remain in their current state of sin.
To the moment Jesus’ body hung lifeless on the cross, punished for the sins of humanity, though He was perfect and blameless. God’s compassion bleeds through the pages of scripture, and we are the blessed recipients who get to live in the light of His kindness and compassion each day.
Although we have received God’s compassion, we can so easily gravitate toward beating ourselves up, and trying to earn our “goodness,” or right standing with God. But we know that God’s compassion is not something we earn, but something that He freely gives.
Though it may be tempting to turn away in shame, we can turn to God for something much greater, His compassion. When we experience the compassion that God has for us, in our weakness and fragility, we learn to extend that same kind of compassion to others.
These Bible verses in the New and Old Testament are a perfect example of the compassionate God we serve, and how He calls us to share that same compassion with others.
31 Bible Verses About Compassion
Bible Verses About Compassion In The Old Testament
1. Psalm 86:15 – A Compassionate And Gracious God
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
2. Exodus 33:19 – He Will Have Compassion On Whom He Will Have Compassion
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
3. Psalm 103:13 – He Has Compassion On Those Who Fear Him
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
4. Isaiah 30:18 – He Will Rise Up To Show You Compassion
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
5. Isaiah 49:13 – He Will Have Compassion On His Afflicted Ones
Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
6. Psalm 112:4 – Gracious And Compassionate
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
7. Psalm 119:77 – Let Your Compassion Come To Me That I May Live
Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.
8. Isaiah 54:10 – The Lord Who Had Compassion On You
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
9. Zechariah 7:9-10 – Show Mercy And Compassion To One Another
This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
10. Psalm 145:8-9 – The Lord Is Gracious And Compassionate
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
11. Isaiah 49:10 – He Who Has Compassion On Them Will Guide Them And Lead Them
They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
12. Isaiah 63:7 – He Has Done Many Good Things According To His Compassion
I will tell of the kindness of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindness.
13. Deuteronomy 30:1-4 – He Will Have Compassion On You
When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
14. Nehemiah 9:16-18 – According To His Great Compassion
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
15. Lamentations 3:22-23 – For His Compassions Never Fail
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
16. Proverbs 14:21 – Blessed Is The One Who Is Kind To The Needy
It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.
Bible Verses About Compassion In The New Testament
17. James 5:11 – The Lord Is Full Of Mercy And Compassion
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
18. Hebrews 4:15 – He Empathizes With Our Weaknesses
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
19. Mark 6:34 – He Had Compassion On Them
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
20. Matthew 20:30-34 – Jesus Had Compassion On Them And Healed Their Eyes
Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus stopped and called them.
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
21. Matthew 14:13-14 – He Had Compassion On Them And Healed Their Sick
When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
22. Luke 7:12-15 – His Heart Went Out To Her
As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
23. Philippians 2:1-2 – If Any Tenderness And Compassion
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
24. 1 Peter 3:8 – Be Compassionate And Humble
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
25. Ephesians 4:32 – Be Kind And Compassionate To One Another
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you.
26. Colossians 3:12-13 – Clothe Yourselves With Compassion
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
27. Luke 10:33 – He Took Pity On Him
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
28. James 1:27 – Showing Compassion To Orphans And Widows In Their Distress
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
29. Luke 15:20 – He Was Filled With Compassion For Him
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
30. Mark 8:2 – Jesus’ Compassion For The Crowd
I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.
31. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 – The Father Of Compassion
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
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