'Spare' in the Bible

Suppose there are fifty righteous [people] within the city; will You really sweep it away and not spare it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

So the Lord said, “If I find within the city of Sodom fifty righteous [people], then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”

you shall not consent to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him.

But the sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel [to spare them]. And all the congregation murmured [expressing great dissatisfaction] against the leaders.

“The Mighty One, God, the Lord, the Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion, or if in an unfaithful act against the Lord, do not save us this day!

Now go and strike Amalek and completely destroy everything that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons (descendants) of Israel but of the remnant (survivors) of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn [an oath] to [spare] them, but Saul in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah had sought to strike down the Gibeonites).

But his servants said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the house (royal line) of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our loins and ropes on our necks [as symbols of submission], and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”

If we say, ‘We will enter the city’—then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit still here, we will also die. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians). If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.”

And I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. O my God, remember me concerning this also and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life.”

“His arrows surround me.He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;He pours out my gall on the ground.

“O look away from me, that I may smile and again know joyBefore I depart and am no more.”

You, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,Arise to punish all the nations;Spare no one and do not be merciful to any who treacherously plot evil. Selah.

He leveled a path for His anger [to give it free run];He did not spare their souls from death,But turned over their lives to the plague.

Let the groaning and sighing of the prisoner come before You;According to the greatness of Your power keep safe those who are doomed to die.

For jealousy enrages the [wronged] husband;He will not spare [the guilty one] on the day of vengeance.

Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon];They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb,Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.

Like flying birds, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem;He will protect and save it,He will pass over and rescue it.

“Your nakedness will be uncovered,Your shame will also be exposed;I will take vengeance and will spare no man.”

“Enlarge the site of your tent [to make room for more children];Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;Lengthen your tent ropesAnd make your pegs (stakes) firm [in the ground].

“Cry aloud, do not hold back;Lift up your voice like a trumpet,And declare to My people their transgressionAnd to the house of Jacob their sins.

You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right,Who remembers You in Your ways.Indeed, You were angry, for we sinned;We have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger].And shall we be saved [under such circumstances]?

I will smash them one against another, both the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I shall destroy them [nothing will restrain Me]; I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion.”’”

Then afterward,” says the Lord, “I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the virulent disease, the sword, and the famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemy, into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have mercy and compassion on them.”’

“Set yourselves in battle formation against Babylon on every side,All you archers.Shoot at her! Do not spare the arrows,For she has sinned against the Lord.

“Do not let him (the Chaldean defender) who bends his bow bend it,Nor let him rise up in his coat of armor.So do not spare her young men;Devote her entire army to destruction.

So, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you and withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare [you].

For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will repay you for your evil ways, while your abominations are among you; and you will know (recognize, understand) [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.’

My eye will show no pity nor will I spare [you]. I will repay you in accordance with your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know and understand that it is I, the Lord, who strikes you.

Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare [them]; and though they cry loudly in My ears, yet I will not listen to them.”

But to the others I heard Him say, “Follow him [the man with the scribe’s writing case] throughout the city and strike; do not let your eyes have pity and do not spare [anyone].

But as for Me, My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare, but I will bring their [wicked] conduct upon their [own] heads.”

I the Lord have spoken; it is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not have compassion and I will not be sorry; in accordance with your ways and in accordance with your deeds I will judge and punish you,” says the Lord God.’”

‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the delight of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind [in Jerusalem] will fall by the sword.

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,Weep between the porch and the altar,And let them say, “Have compassion and spare Your people, O Lord,And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule,Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’”

The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,“Behold, I am setting a plumb line [as a standard]Among My people Israel [showing the defectiveness of the nation, requiring judgment].I shall not spare them any longer. [The door of mercy is shut.]

And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer [for the nation is ripe for judgment].

Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin], as well as many [blameless] animals?”

whose buyers slay them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them nor protect them [from the wolves].

For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into the hand of another and into the hands of his [foreign] king. And the enemy will strike the land, and I will not rescue the people from their hand.”

“They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on that day when I publicly recognize them and openly declare them to be My own possession [that is, My very special treasure]. And I will have compassion on them and spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”