God's Goodness & Mercy

⁵And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD. ⁶Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

³⁴Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

⁸Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

¹Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name. ²Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds— ³He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, ⁴who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion, ⁵who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. ⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. ⁹He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever. ¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever. ²Give thanks to the God of gods. His loving devotion endures forever. ³Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His loving devotion endures forever. ⁴He alone does great wonders. His loving devotion endures forever. ⁵By His insight He made the heavens. His loving devotion endures forever. ⁶He spread out the earth upon the waters. His loving devotion endures forever. ⁷He made the great lights—His loving devotion endures forever. ⁸the sun to rule the day, His loving devotion endures forever. ⁹the moon and stars to govern the night. His loving devotion endures forever. ²³He remembered us in our low estate His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁴and freed us from our enemies. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁵He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven! His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

⁸The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion. ⁹The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made. ¹⁴The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season. ¹⁶You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. ¹⁸The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth. ¹⁹He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. ²⁰The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. ²¹My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD; let every creature bless His holy name forever and ever.

²²Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. ²³They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! ²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

¹⁸Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? ¹⁹He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

¹⁸Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.” ¹⁹“I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

¹⁸“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone.

¹³The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud

¹¹And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

⁶Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age. ⁷Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD. ⁸Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way. ⁹He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. ¹⁰All the LORD’s ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.

⁵For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You. ¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

³Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. ⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name. ⁵For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever. ²Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy ³and gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. ⁴Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell. ⁵They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them. ⁶Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. ⁷He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live. ⁸Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men. ⁹For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever. ²Let Israel say, “His loving devotion endures forever.” ³Let the house of Aaron say, “His loving devotion endures forever.” ⁴Let those who fear the LORD say, “His loving devotion endures forever.” ²⁹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. ⁸In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer. ⁹“For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. ¹⁰Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

⁷The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

¹¹Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing. ¹⁷Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death! ¹⁸I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

⁴Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

⁶For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. ⁶This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

¹⁷So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: ¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.” ²⁰“I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.

³¹For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

¹⁴David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

⁹For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹⁷They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them. ¹⁸Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies, ¹⁹You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

¹³Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁴Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!

¹⁹How great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have bestowed before the sons of men on those who take refuge in You!

¹Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ²Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ⁴For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah ⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah ¹⁰Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.

⁵Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. ⁷How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! ⁸They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights. ⁹For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. ²Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. ³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

⁵The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. ⁶The LORD preserves the simplehearted; I was helpless, and He saved me. ⁷Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

⁶⁴The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD; teach me Your statutes. ⁶⁸You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.

³If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? ⁴But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared. ⁷O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance. ⁸And He will redeem Israel from all iniquity.

¹⁸“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

¹⁸Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

²⁵I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones. ¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!” ¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! ¹⁶Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

²³This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches. ²⁴But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

³The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me. ⁴¹Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

³¹For the Lord will not cast us off forever. ³²Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion. ³³For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.

¹¹Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

⁹To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him ¹⁷So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

⁸How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred! ⁹I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man—the Holy One among you—and I will not come in wrath.

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” ¹³So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

⁹Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

⁴⁰Then a leper came to Jesus, begging on his knees: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” ⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and the man was cleansed.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, ⁷⁷to give to His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high, ⁷⁹to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’” ¹⁶From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁵“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. ¹⁶In past generations, He let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

¹³I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy. ¹⁴And the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

²So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

¹⁵For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

²²Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.