Bible Verses About Repentance
Approaching God always begins with repentance. Repentance means turning away from everything that keeps you from a holy relationship with God, and turning toward God with your whole heart. Jesus says that He came to call sinners to repentance. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
(Deuteronomy 4:29-31) “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. {30} “When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice {31} ‘(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
(Deuteronomy 30:1-3) “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, {2} “and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, {3} “that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.
(Deuteronomy 30:9-10) “The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, {10} “if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
(1 Samuel 7:3-4) Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” {4} So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
(2 Kings 23:25) Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
(2 Chronicles 15:2-4) And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. {3} “For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law; {4} “but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.
(2 Chronicles 30:9) “For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”
(Psalms 22:26-28) The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! {27} All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. {28} For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.
(Isaiah 19:22) And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
(Isaiah 30:15) For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not,
(Isaiah 55:6-7) Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. {7} Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
(Jeremiah 3:22) “Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.” “Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.
(Jeremiah 24:7) ‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.
(Lamentations 3:39-41) Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? {40} Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; {41} Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.
(Lamentations 5:21) Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old,
(Ezekiel 18:21-23) “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. {22} “None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. {23} “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
(Ezekiel 18:30-32) “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. {31} “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? {32} “For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!”
(Hosea 6:1-3) Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. {2} After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. {3} Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
(Joel 2:12-13) “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” {13} So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.
(Zechariah 1:3) “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.
(Malachi 3:7-11) Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’ {8} “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. {9} You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. {10} Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. {11} “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
(Matthew 3:1-2) In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, {2} and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
(Matthew 3:11) “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
(Matthew 4:17) From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
(Matthew 9:12-13) When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. {13} “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
(Mark 1:14-15) Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, {15} and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
(Mark 6:12-13) So they went out and preached that people should repent. {13} And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.
(Luke 13:2-5) And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? {3} “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. {4} “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? {5} “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
(Luke 15:6-7) “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ {7} “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
(Luke 15:9-10) “And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ {10} “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
(Luke 24:46-47) Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, {47} “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
(Acts 2:36-39) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” {37} Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” {38} Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
(Acts 3:18-21) “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. {19} “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, {20} “and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, {21} “whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
(Acts 11:21) And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
(Acts 17:29-31) “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. {30} “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, {31} “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
(Romans 2:4) Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
(2 Corinthians 3:15-18) But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. {16} Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. {17} Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. {18} But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(2 Corinthians 7:10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
(2 Peter 3:9-10) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. {10} But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
(Revelation 2:4-5) “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. {5} “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place; unless you repent.
(Revelation 2:16-17) ‘Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. {17} “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”‘
(Revelation 3:2-3) “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. {3} “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
(Revelation 3:18-21) “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. {19} “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. {20} “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. {21} “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31; Deuteronomy 30:1-3; Deuteronomy 30:9-10; 1 Samuel 7:3-4; 2 Kings 23:25; 2 Chronicles 15:2-4; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Psalms 22:26-28; Isaiah 19:22; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 24:7; Lamentations 3:39-41; Lamentations 5:21; Ezekiel 18:21-23; Ezekiel 18:30-32; Hosea 6:1-3; Joel 2:12-13; Zechariah 1:3; Malachi 3:7-11; Matthew 3:1-2; Matthew 3:11; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 9:12-13; Mark 1:14-15; Mark 6:12-13; Luke 13:2-5; Luke 15:6-7; Luke 15:9-10; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:36-39; Acts 3:18-21; Acts 11:21; Acts 17:29-31; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 3:15-18; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9-10; Revelation 2:4-5; Revelation 2:16-17; Revelation 3:2-3; Revelation 3:18-21