925 verses about Compassion

The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”

He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

In the days of Enemessar, I did many alms deeds to my kindred: I gave my bread to the hungry,

and my garments to the naked. If I saw any of my race dead, and cast forth on the wall of Ninevah, I buried him.

Before I had tasted anything, I sprang up, and took him up into a chamber until the sun had set.

Give alms from your possessions. When you give alms, don’t let your eye be envious. Don’t turn away your face from any poor man, and the face of God won’t be turned away from you.

As your possessions are, give alms of it according to your abundance. If you have little, don’t be afraid to give alms according to that little;

Give of your bread to the hungry, and of your garments to those who are naked. Give alms from all your abundance. Don’t let your eye be envious when you give alms.

So she stopped weeping.

The demon will smell it, and flee away, and never come again any more. But when you go near to her, both of you rise up, and cry to God who is merciful. He will save you, and have mercy on you. Don’t be afraid, for she was prepared for you from the beginning; and you will save her, and she will go with you. And I suppose that you will have children with her.” When Tobias heard these things, he loved her, and his soul was strongly joined to her.

And Raguel sprang up, and kissed him, wept,

blessed him, and said to him, “You are the son of an honest and good man.” When he had heard that Tobit had lost his sight, he was grieved, and wept;

She did as he asked her, and brought her in there. She wept, and she received the tears of her daughter, and said to her,

Blessed are you, because you have made me glad; and it has not happened me as I suspected; but you have dealt with us according to your great mercy.

Raphael said to Tobias, “Don’t you know, brother, how you left your father?

Then the white films scaled away from the corners of his eyes; and he saw his son, and fell upon his neck.

And when you did not delay to rise up, and leave your dinner, that you might go and cover the dead, your good deed was not hidden from me. I was with you.

They had ashes on their hats. They cried to the Lord with all their power, that he would look upon all the house of Israel for good.

And the queen’s maids and chamberlains went in and told her: and when she had heard what was done, she was disturbed; and she sent to clothe Mordecai, and take away his sackcloth; but he consented not.

For how shall I be able to look upon the affliction of my people, and how shall I be able to survive the destruction of my kindred?

Wherefore you convictest by little and little those who fall from the right way, And, putting them in remembrance by the very things wherein they sin, do you admonish them, That escaping from their wickedness they may believe on you, O Lord.

But you did teach your people by such works as these, How that the righteous must be a lover of men; And you did make your sons to be of good hope, Because you give repentance when men have sinned.

For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy; And he forgives sins, and saves in time of affliction.

And if he fails in understanding, have patience with him; And dishonor him not while you are in your full strength.

Water will quench a flaming fire; And almsgiving will make atonement for sins.

My son, deprive not the poor of his living, And make not the needy eyes to wait long.

Make not a hungry soul sorrowful; Neither provoke a man in his distress.

To a heart that is provoked add not more trouble; And defer not to give to him that is in need.

Reject not a suppliant in his affliction; And turn not away your face from a poor man.

Turn not away your eye from one that asks of you, And give none occasion to a man to curse you:

For if he curse you in the bitterness of his soul, He that made him will hear his supplication.

Incline your ear to a poor man, And answer him with peaceful words in meekness.

Deliver him that is wronged from the hand of him that wrongeth him; And be not faint-hearted in giving judgement.

And say not, His compassion is great; He will be pacified for the multitude of my sins: For mercy and wrath are with him, And his indignation will rest upon sinners.

Be not faint-hearted in your prayer; And neglect not to give alms.

Laugh not a man to scorn when he is in the bitterness of his soul; For there is one who humbles and exalts.

Also to the poor man stretch out your hand, That your blessing may be perfected.

Be not lacking to those who weep; And mourn with those who mourn.

Be not slow to visit a sick man; For by such things you will gain love.

Reproach not a man when he turns from sin: Remember that we are all worthy of punishment.

Dishonour not a man in his old age; For some of us also are waxing old.

There is one that is sluggish, and has need of help, Lacking in strength, and that abounds in poverty; And the eyes of the Lord looked upon him for good, And he set him up from his low estate,

Give to the godly man, And help not the sinner.

With him the alms of a man is as a signet; And he will keep the bounty of a man as the apple of the eye.

For this cause the Lord was longsuffering over them, And poured out his mercy upon them.

The mercy of a man is upon his neighbor; But the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh; Reproving, and chastening, and teaching, And bringing again, as a shepherd does his flock.

He has mercy on those who accept chastening, And that diligently seek after his judgements.

Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, That in his prosperity you may have gladness: Abide stedfast to him in the time of his affliction, That you may be heir with him in his inheritance.

I will not be ashamed to shelter a friend; And I will not hide myself from his face:

Upon a man like himself he has no mercy; And does he make supplication for his own sins?

He that shows mercy will lend to his neighbor; And he that strengthens him with his hand keeps the commandments.

Howbeit with a man in poor estate be longsuffering; And let him not wait for your alms.

Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake; And according to his need send him not empty away.

Help your neighbor according to your power, And take heed to yourself that you fall not to the same.

Consider your neighbor’s liking by your own; And be discreet in every point.

Rebuke not your neighbor at a banquet of wine, Neither set him at nothing in his mirth: Speak not to him a word of reproach, And press not upon him by asking back a debt.

If you have a servant, let him be as yourself, Because you have bought him with blood.

If you have a servant, treat him as yourself; For as your own soul will you have need of him: If you treat him ill, and he depart and run away, Which way will you go to seek him?

The bread of the needy is the life of the poor: He that depriveth him thereof is a man of blood.

He will in no wise despise the supplication of the fatherless; Nor the widow, when she pours out her tale.

Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek? And is not her cry against him that has caused them to fall?

Mercy is seasonable in the time of his afflicting them, As clouds of rain in the time of drought.

Have compassion upon the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the place of your rest.

Brethren and succour are for a time of affliction; And almsgiving is a deliverer above both.

And he brought out of him a man of mercy, Which found favor in the sight of all flesh; A man beloved of God and men, even Moses, Whose memorial is blessed.

For he has brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.

Therefore her friends and all that saw her wept.

And the congregation was gathered together, that they might be ready for battle, and that they might pray, and ask for mercy and compassion.

Now when Judas and the people heard these words, there assembled together a great congregation, to consult what they should do for their kindred, that were in tribulation, and were assaulted of them.

Then it would have pitied a man to see the multitude prostrating themselves all mingled together, and the expectation of the high priest in his sore distress.

Antiochus therefore was heartily sorry, and was moved to pity, and wept, because of the sober and well ordered life of him that was dead;

And they called upon the Lord, beseeching him to look upon the people that was oppressed by all; and to have compassion on the sanctuary also that had been profaned by the ungodly men;

and to have pity on the city also that was suffering ruin and ready to be made even even with the ground; and to hearken to the blood that cried to him;

And when they had accomplished these things, and had made a common supplication, they implored the merciful Lord to be wholly reconciled with his servants.

For I am persuaded that he in gentleness and kindness will follow my purpose and treat you with indulgence.

But when Judas heard of the cruelty done to his fellow-countrymen, giving command to the men that were with him

But when the Jews that were settled there testified of the good will that the Scythopolitans had shewn toward them, and of their kindly bearing toward them in the times of their misfortune,

showed kindness and graciously received Maccabaeus, left Hegemonides governor from Ptolemais even to the Gerrenians,

first for the unfeigned care I have for the things that concern the king, and secondly because I have regard also to my own fellow-citizens: for, through the unadvised dealing of those of whom I spoke before, our whole race is in no small misfortune.

And the God of their fathers sent by his messenger to call them back, because he had compassion on them and on his dwelling place.

And I also do command to have it built up whole again; and that they look diligently to help those that be of the captivity of Judea, till the house of the Lord be finished:

go then, and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing;

Then they went their way, every one to eat and drink, and make merry, and to give portions to those who had nothing, and to make great cheer;

for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, longsuffering and abundant in mercy, and repent of bringing evils upon men.

Blot out our iniquities, and do away with our errors, and show forth your compassion in this hour.

Nor was this unexpected uproar and sudden conflux of people unobserved by the Greeks who lived in the city, concerning men who had never harmed them: yet to aid them was not in their power, since all was oppression around; but they encouraged them in their troubles, and expected a favourable turn of affairs:

Some of the neighbors, friends, and fellow dealers of the Jews, even called them secretly to an interview, pledged them their assistance, and promised to do their very utmost for them.

we resolved, not with strength of spear, but with gentleness and much humanity, as it were to nurse the inhabitants of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and to be their willing benefactors.

We then, having endeavoured to make allowance for the madness of these persons, and on our victorious return treating all people in Egypt courteously, acted in a manner which was befitting.

They were sent out unanimously by the generals in the several cities, with such stern and pitiless feeling, that the exceptional nature of the infliction moved even some of their enemies. These, influenced by sentiments of common humanity, and reflecting upon the uncertain issue of life, shed tears at this their miserable expulsion.

When this was done, the king, hearing that their kindred in the city often went out and lamented the melancholy distress of these victims,

The whole band of infants and their parents with tears beseech you.

The king’s wrath was converted into compassion; and he wept at his own machinations.