Reference: Pity
Hastings
This word is entirely synonymous with compassion both in OT and NT, except, perhaps, in 1Pe 3:8, where 'sympathetic' would better express the meaning of the original word (see Revised Version margin). Pity was regarded by OT writers as holding an essential place in the relations of God and His people (see Ps 78:38; 86:15; 103:13; 111:4; 112:4; 145:8; Isa 63:8; cf. Jas 5:11). One of the ways in which this Divine feeling became active on their behalf reveals an incipient belief in the dealings of Jehovah with nations other than Israel; for He is often represented as infusing compassion for His chosen into the hearts of their enemies (cf. 1Ki 8:50; 2Ch 30:9; Ps 106:46; Ezr 9:9; Ne 1:11; Jer 42:12). An objective manifestation of the feeling of pity in the heart of God was recognized in the preservation of His people from destruction (La 3:22 f.), and in the numerous instances which were regarded as the interventions of mercy on their behalf (cf. Ex 15:13; Nu 14:19; De 13:17; 30:3; 2Ki 13:23; 2Ch 36:15). The direct result of this belief was that Israelites were expected to display a similar disposition towards their brethren (cf. Mic 6:8; Isa 1:17; Jer 21:12; Pr 19:17). They were not required, however, to look beyond the limits of their own race (De 7:16, See De 7:9) except in the case of individual aliens who might at any time be living within their borders (see Ex 22:21; 23:9; De 10:18 f. etc.).
In the parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Jesus inculcates the exercise of pity in men's dealings with each other, and teaches the sacredness of its character by emphasizing its identity with God's compassion for sinners (Mt 18:33; cf. Lu 6:36; Mt 5:7; 9:18). The teaching of Jesus, moreover, broadened its conception in the human mind by insisting that henceforth it could never be confined to the members of the Jewish nation (cf. the parable of the Good Samaritan, Lu 10:25-37). At the same time His own attitude to the thronging multitudes surrounding Him was characterized by profound pity for their weaknesses (Mt 15:32 = Mr 8:2; cf. Mt 9:36; 14:14). Under His guidance, too, Divine pity for the world was transmuted into that Eternal Love which resulted in the Incarnation (Joh 3:16). Side by side with this development, and in exact correspondence with it, Jesus evolves out of human pity for frailty the more fundamental, because it is the more living, quality of love, which He insists will be active even in the face of enmity (Mt 5:43 f., Lu 6:27 ff.).
J. R. Willis.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Thou in thy loving kindness have led the people that thou have redeemed. Thou have guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation.
And thou shall not wrong a sojourner, neither shall thou oppress him, for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
And thou shall not oppress a sojourner, for ye know the heart of a sojourner, since ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving kindness, and according as thou have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Know therefore that LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
And thou shall consume all the peoples that LORD thy God shall deliver to thee. Thine eye shall not pity them. Neither shall thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare to thee.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner in giving him food and raiment.
And nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to thy hand, that LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he has sworn to thy fathers,
that then LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples where LORD thy God has scattered thee.
and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions by which they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
For we are bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins of it, a
O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name, and, I pray thee, prosper thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight
But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and destroyed not. Yea, many a time he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
But thou, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Like as a father pities his sons, So LORD pities those who fear him.
He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them captive.
He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. LORD is gracious and merciful.
To the upright there arises light in the darkness. [He is] gracious, and merciful, and righteous.
LORD is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
He who has pity upon a poor man lends to LORD, and he will repay him his good deed.
Learn to do good. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
For he said, Surely, they are my people, sons that will not deal falsely. So he was their Savior.
O house of David, thus says LORD: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your do
And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
[It is of] LORD's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions do not fail.
He has shown thee, O man, what is good. And what does LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Blessed are the merciful, because they will obtain mercy.
Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
While he spoke these things to them, behold, one ruler who came worshiped him, saying, My daughter has just now perished, but after coming, lay thy hand upon her, and she will live.
But when he saw the multitudes, he felt compassion for them, because they were troubled and dejected, as sheep having no shepherd.
And having come forth, Jesus saw a great multitude, and he felt compassion toward them, and healed the feeble of them.
And Jesus having summoned his disciples, he said, I feel compassion toward the multitude because they continue with me now three days and do not have what they might eat. And I do not want to dismiss them without food, lest they mi
Was it not necessary for thee also to be merciful to thy fellow bondman, as I also was merciful to thee?
I feel compassion toward the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and do not have what they might eat.
But I say to you, to those who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.
Become ye therefore merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up testing him, and saying, Teacher, having done what, would I inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the law? How read thou? read more. And having answered, he said, Thou shall love Lord thy God from thy whole heart, and from thy whole soul, and from thy whole strength, and from thy whole mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said to him, Thou answered correctly. Do this and thou will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And having replied, Jesus said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he encountered bandits, who also, having stripped him and having beat him, departed having left him being half dead. And by coincidence a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise also a Levite who happened upon the place, having come, and having looked, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to him, and when he saw him, felt compassion. And having come, he wrapped up his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. And having set him on his own beast, he brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when departing, after taking out two denarii, he gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him, and whatever thou might spend more, I will repay thee at my return. Which therefore, of these three, appears to thee to have become neighbor to the man who fell among the bandits? And he said, He who did mercy with him. Therefore Jesus said to him, Go, and do thou likewise.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that every man who believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life.
Behold, we regard those who endured, blessed. Ye have heard of the fortitude of Job, and have seen the outcome of Lord, that he is very compassionate and merciful.
And finally, all be like-minded, sympathetic, brother-loving, compassionate, friendly,