925 verses about compassion

But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”

He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.

But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ and she will say, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.”

She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him a drink.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they have finished drinking.”

She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink.

Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.”

Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.

Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him.

But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad.

He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”

They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”

He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”

Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.

His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it.

She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother.

Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed it.

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”

He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.

Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me?

Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They plundered the Egyptians.

“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

“You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.

If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;

for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.

“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.

Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.

“‘If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

Whether it is a cow or ewe, you shall not kill it and its young both in one day.

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.’”

“‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.

“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

“‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay.

It shall be, if you go with us, yes, it shall be, that whatever good Yahweh does to us, we will do the same to you.”

The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire abated.

If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.”

He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing.

Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand, that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;

You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.

Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.

For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates.

When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you?

You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother.

So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost, and you have found. You may not hide yourself.

You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.

If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young.

You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

You shall not abhor an Edomite; for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

He shall dwell with you, among you, in the place which he shall choose within one of your gates, where it pleases him best. You shall not oppress him.

When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.

If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates.

When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.

Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.

For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.

When Yahweh raised up judges for them, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.