Bible glossary

What Does ‘Mercy’ Mean in the Bible?

Mercy is God withholding the judgment we deserve and treating us instead with compassion and tenderness.

If grace is God giving us good we have not earned, mercy is God sparing us the punishment we have earned. It is the compassion of a God who sees our failure and our misery and does not crush us, but bends toward us to help.

The Bible describes God as rich in mercy, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. His mercies are not scarce or grudging; they are new every morning. Mercy is why the door back to God is never closed to the one who turns toward home.

Key verses

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.”
Ephesians 2:4

“It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”
Titus 3:5