42 Bible Verses about Repentance, Examples Of
Most Relevant Verses
And Peter [said] to them, "Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
However, the solid foundation of God stands firm, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and "Everyone who names the name of the Lord must abstain from unrighteousness."
Then Yahweh exposed the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed down and worshiped to his face. The angel of Yahweh said to him, "Why have you struck this donkey three times? Look, I have come out as an adversary because your conduct is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from my face, then I would have killed you and kept her alive."read more.
Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, "I have sinned because I did not know that you [were] standing to meet me in the road. Now, {if it is displeasing to you}, I will turn back." The angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but speak only the word that I will speak to you." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly."
Then David said to God, "I have sinned severely [in] that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish."
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."
because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh.
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love. According to your abundant mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin cleanse me. For {I myself know} my transgressions, and my sin [is] ever before me.read more.
Against you, only you, I have sinned and have done this evil in your eyes, so that you are correct when you speak, you are blameless when you judge. Behold, in iniquity I was born, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you delight [in] truth in the inward parts, and in [the] hidden [parts] you make me to know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness; let [the] bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and all my iniquities blot out. Create a clean heart for me, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit {within me}. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and with a willing spirit sustain me. [Then] I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation; [then] my tongue will sing aloud [of] your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise. For you do not delight [in] sacrifice or I would give [it]. [With] a burnt offering you are not pleased. The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
And [his] son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and {in your sight}! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!'
But the tax collector, standing far away, did not want even to raise his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
And Peter remembered the statement Jesus had said, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times," and he went outside [and] wept bitterly.
And immediately a rooster crowed for the second time. And Peter remembered the statement, how Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times," and throwing himself down, he began to weep.
And the Lord turned around [and] looked intently at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." And he went outside [and] wept bitterly.
Now when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon [son] of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs!" He said to him again a second time, "Simon [son] of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Shepherd my sheep!" He said to him a third [time], "Simon [son] of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed because he said to him a third [time], "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep!
Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and ask the Lord if perhaps the intent of your heart may be forgiven you!" For I see you are in {a state of bitter envy} and {bound by unrighteousness}." But Simon answered [and] said, "You pray to the Lord for me so that nothing of what you have said will come upon me."
One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy [it]. But [if] that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, [when] Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the time of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,read more.
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight! Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled, and the crooked will become straight, and the rough road [will become] smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God.'"
The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes from among us." So Moses prayed for the people.
And the {Israelites} said to Yahweh, "We have sinned; {do to us accordingly as you see fit}; only please deliver us this day." So they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served Yahweh; and {he could no longer bear} the misery of Israel.
And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If with all your heart you [are] turning to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and Ashtoreths from your midst. Commit your hearts to Yahweh and serve him alone. Then he will deliver you from the hand of [the] Philistines." So the {Israelites} removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and they served Yahweh alone.
And Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing; and they will return to Yahweh, and he will respond to their prayer, and he will heal them.
Now it happened that [as] Peter was traveling through all [the places], [he] also came down to the saints who lived [in] Lydda. And he found there a certain man {named} Aeneas who was paralyzed, who had been lying on a mat for eight years. And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and make your bed yourself!" And immediately he got up.read more.
And all those who lived [in] Lydda and Sharon saw him, who [all] indeed turned to the Lord.
While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children from Israel gathered to him. And the people wept bitterly.
So the king sent [word], and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him. Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh. Then the king stood by the pillar, and he {made} a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of [his] heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people {joined} in the covenant.read more.
Then the {king} commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained [to] burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. He brought out the Asherah image from the temple of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Wadi of the Kidron and burnt it {there}; then he pulverized [it] to dust and threw its dust upon the tombs of the children of the people. He tore down the shrines of the male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple of Yahweh, where the women were weaving shrines for the Asherah.
And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them, from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God [was] with him. And they were gathered [at] Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.read more.
And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the war booty they brought back: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their inmost being, but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women. And they took an oath to Yahweh with a great voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart. And they sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave rest to them all around.
And the runners went with the letter from the hand of the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah according to the command of the king, saying, "O sons of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who acted unfaithfully before Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them as a desolation, as you see. Now, do not stiffen your neck as your fathers, but give a hand to Yahweh and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve Yahweh your God that his fierce anger may turn away from you.read more.
For when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children [will find] compassion before their captors and return to this land, for Yahweh your God [is] gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him."
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel. Now make a confession to Yahweh the God of your ancestors and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women." Then all the assembly answered with a great voice and said, "It is so. We must do according to your words.
And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. And he had a proclamation made, and said, "In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles: "No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water! And [the] human beings and [the] animals must be covered [with] sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
But I have [this] against you: that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do {the works you did at first}. But if you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved according to [the will of] God, so that you suffered loss in no way through us. For grief according to [the will of] God brings about a repentance [leading] to salvation, not to be regretted, but worldly grief brings about death. For behold how much diligence this very [thing], being grieved according to [the will of] God, has brought about in you: what defense [of yourselves], what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! In everything you have demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
But I have a few [things] against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth.
Therefore remember how you have received and heard, and observe [it], and repent. If therefore you are not on the alert, I will come like a thief, and you will never know [at] what hour I will come against you.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly.
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.
So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured [it] out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the {Israelites} at Mizpah.
I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.
{And then} in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast {before} Yahweh.
Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, ministers of [the] altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God. Solemnize a fast! Call an assembly! Gather [the] elders, all [of] the inhabitants of the land [in] the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh.
"And even now," {declares} Yahweh, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing."
Just as it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!'" John was there baptizing in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
