The complex relationship between religious forgiveness and legal justice creates a fundamental tension in how society addresses wrongdoing. My own experiences have made this paradox painfully clear.
Through my battle for custody of my children, I’ve witnessed this conflict firsthand. While family and friends counsel forgiveness through religious teachings, the legal system exists precisely because society recognises that some actions demand justice.
This dissonance manifests in personal circumstances and broader societal structures. Religious texts and spiritual advisors consistently promote forgiveness as the path to peace. Yet these same societies maintain robust legal systems with courts, judges, and precise mechanisms for obtaining justice.
The irony deepens when examining how religious forgiveness and legal justice intertwine in peculiar ways. Courts require witnesses to swear on holy books that preach forgiveness while simultaneously serving as instruments of judicial consequence. This contradiction raises fundamental questions about how society balances these competing imperatives.
My experience has sparked an analytical examination of this tension. We can better understand this paradox through systematic analysis of religious texts, mainly focusing on how forgiveness and justice appear and interact. This investigation will use qualitative analysis methods to examine specific terms, including forgiveness and justice, and their various forms.
This evidence-based approach aims to illuminate how religious teachings and human nature often suppress the pursuit of justice in favour of forgiveness. By examining historical examples and modern practices, we can better understand whether this suppression serves society’s interests or enables wrongdoing to continue unchecked.
Perhaps we shouldn’t just “leave everything to God” when justice hangs in the balance.
The Paradox of Religious Forgiveness and Legal Justice
Courts worldwide require witnesses to swear upon religious texts before giving testimony. This ritual binds truth-telling to faith, creating an odd marriage between religious morality and legal proceedings. Yet these same holy books consistently preach forgiveness over retribution.
The British legal system illustrates this contradiction perfectly. The Oaths Act requires witnesses to place their hand upon religious texts while swearing to tell the truth. Meanwhile, these sacred books contain countless passages urging followers to forgive transgressions. This creates a peculiar scenario where religious forgiveness and legal justice clash within the walls meant to deliver judicial outcomes.
Modern courts serve as mechanisms for extracting justice, determining guilt, and assigning punishment. They represent humanity’s structured response to wrongdoing. However, when courts invoke religious authority through sworn oaths, they inadvertently highlight the tension between divine mercy and human justice. The intersection of spiritual forgiveness and legal justice creates a system that demands punishment and absolution simultaneously.
History offers striking examples of this conflict. Consider Galileo’s persecution by the Catholic Church, where religious authority attempted to suppress scientific truth through legal means. The Church later acknowledged its error, demonstrating how institutions can misuse legal power while ignoring their teachings of forgiveness and understanding.
This paradox manifests in everyday legal proceedings. Judges swear to uphold justice on the same books that command followers to turn the other cheek. Witnesses take oaths on texts that preach forgiveness while participating in a system designed to punish. Criminal courts pass sentences in rooms where religious symbols remind us to forgive our trespassers.
The contradictory nature of these practices raises questions about society’s actual values. We’ve created elaborate legal frameworks to ensure justice while embracing religious teachings emphasising mercy and forgiveness. This duelling approach reflects humanity’s struggle to balance redemption with responsibility.
The Systematic Suppression of Justice in Religious Teaching and Human Nature
Religious teachings consistently prioritise forgiveness over justice through carefully constructed emotional appeals. As someone with a deep spiritual faith, I struggle with this tension.
Common refrains like “the misery of living with unforgiveness always lasts longer than the pain of the offence” exemplify how religious forgiveness and legal justice become misaligned, with forgiveness positioned as the only path to healing.
These teachings often employ guilt as a powerful tool. Though my belief in God remains unshaken, my current situation has forced me to question these interpretations.
Consider the frequent reminder that we have all been “unconditionally forgiven” by God. Therefore, holding others accountable through legal means somehow betrays this divine grace. This message creates a false equivalence between seeking justice and being unforgiving.
The manipulation becomes more apparent in how religious texts interpret revenge versus justice. They frame any pursuit of legal redress as revenge, suggesting that wanting accountability equates to seeking vengeance. This deliberate conflation of religious forgiveness and legal justice ignores the crucial role of legal systems in maintaining societal order.
Human nature amplifies this suppression. Those not directly affected by wrongdoing readily advise others to “leave it to God” or “let karma handle it.” This comfortable distance allows them to preach forgiveness without acknowledging the real-world consequences of unaddressed injustice.
Religious advisors often ask, “How many lashes would satisfy you?” implying that seeking justice through legal means reflects a desire for revenge rather than accountability. This rhetoric dismisses legitimate grievances while positioning forgiveness as the morally superior choice, regardless of circumstances.
This systematic suppression reaches throughout everyday human interactions. Friends and family members, influenced by these teachings, often pressure victims to forgive and move on. They quote religious texts about turning the other cheek while dismissing the importance of legal accountability.
This pattern of suppression sets up my analytical examination of biblical texts. By systematically analysing key terms and their distribution, we can better understand how religious teachings have shaped society’s complex relationship with forgiveness and justice.
Uncovering Religious Forgiveness and Legal Justice: Keywords and Biblical Distribution
Investigating religious forgiveness and legal justice required careful selection of search terms. The core terms “forgive” and “justice” anchored my search, along with variations: forgives, forgiven, forgiveness, forgave, forgiving, unforgiving. Additional justice-related terms included injustice, equity, and judgment.
Key phrases expanded the contextual scope: “Justice and Mercy,” “Judgment and Justice,” “Just and Right,” and “Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment.” These combinations captured nuanced dimensions of fairness, impartiality, and reconciliation within biblical teachings.
The analysis of these terms yielded striking patterns across biblical texts. A significant majority, 72% of references (216), appeared in the Old Testament, while the New Testament contained 28% (82). This disparity aligns with the Old Testament’s stronger emphasis on legal frameworks.
The distribution across books revealed concentrated patterns of discussion. Psalm leads with 38 references, followed by Isaiah with 33, offering deep reflections on justice and forgiveness. Luke stands out with 24 references as the sole New Testament representative among top sources.
Genre analysis showed wisdom literature dominating the text. Psalm, Job, and Proverbs collectively contained 65 references, while prophetic books held 59. Gospel narratives provided 49 instances, offering a balanced treatment of both concepts.
The emphasis shifted markedly between testaments. Old Testament texts featured justice prominently, with 112 occurrences compared to 15 in the New Testament. Conversely, forgiveness gained greater focus in New Testament teachings, appearing 14 times versus once in the Old Testament.
These patterns in religious forgiveness and legal justice highlight an evolution in spiritual teaching. While legal texts contained fewer direct references, wisdom literature and prophetic works extensively addressed both concepts, creating a rich ground for analysis.
Visualising the Tension: Pattern Analysis of Biblical References
The systematic examination of biblical text requires careful categorisation to reveal meaningful patterns. My analysis divides the textual elements into five distinct groups:
- Group 1: Forgiveness terms (forgive, forgives, forgiven, forgiveness, forgave, forgiving, unforgiving)
- Group 2: Justice-related words (justice, injustice)
- Group 3: Equity concepts (equity, just and right)
- Group 4: Compound phrases (justice and mercy, judgment and justice, mercy triumphs over judgment)
- Group 5: Co-occurring terms and their relationships
The analysis of religious forgiveness and legal justice through biblical text reveals distinctive patterns of language and emphasis. Visual representation of word frequencies illuminates how these concepts interweave throughout scripture.
The complete dataset visualisation above exposes striking patterns in biblical language. The prominence of ‘justice’ and ‘lord’ demonstrates their foundational importance, whilst ‘forgive’ and ‘sins’ form significant secondary themes. This visual mapping suggests a hierarchical relationship where divine authority (‘lord’, ‘god’) oversees both justice and forgiveness.
Particularly noteworthy is the strong presence of action words surrounding these core concepts. Terms like ‘maintain’, ‘bring’, and ‘make’ indicate active engagement rather than passive acceptance. The frequency of ‘people’ and ‘every’ points to the communal nature of these principles in biblical teaching.
Examining forgiveness-specific language patterns (see image above) highlights the profoundly personal nature of biblical mercy. The dominance of terms like ‘forgive’, ‘sins’, and ‘forgiven’ creates a framework of personal transgression and redemption. Supporting words such as ‘heart’, ‘blood’, and ‘atonement’ add emotional and sacrificial meaning to religious forgiveness and legal justice.
The strong presence of ‘priest’ and ‘offering’ suggests institutional mediation in forgiveness, creating an interesting parallel with modern legal systems. Words like ‘holy’ and ‘heaven’ emphasise the spiritual dimension, whilst practical terms like ‘brother’ and ‘servant’ ground these concepts daily.
Justice-related terminology focuses on moral authority and societal order (shown in the image above). ‘Righteousness’ appears prominently alongside ‘justice’, suggesting their inseparable nature in biblical thought. The frequency of terms like ‘poor’, ‘oppressed’, and ‘innocent’ highlights justice’s protective role.
Words like ‘throne’, ‘king’, and ‘almighty’ establish a clear hierarchy of judicial authority. This authority structure appears balanced by terms emphasising fairness and equity, such as ‘truth’ and ‘right’. Both ‘love’ and ‘wicked’ indicate justice’s dual nature of protection and punishment.
The quantitative analysis reveals telling patterns in how religious forgiveness and legal justice manifest through equity-related language (see the bar chart above). The frequency distribution demonstrates ‘just’ appearing most frequently (14 occurrences), followed by ‘right’ (12 occurrences). Three additional terms – ‘equity’, ‘fair’, and ‘truth’ – appear five times, forming a secondary layer of moral vocabulary.
This distribution illuminates the biblical text’s emphasis on practical moral guidance over abstract concepts. The prominence of ‘just’ and ‘right’ suggests a focus on actionable principles, whilst the balanced presence of supporting terms provides a nuanced context for understanding fairness and judgement.
The compound phrases in Group 4 reveal consistent patterns in biblical teaching. The phrase “justice and mercy” appears together in contexts addressing communal relationships. In Zechariah 7:9, we find the directive:
…This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
Similarly, Matthew 23:23 pairs “justice, mercy and faithfulness” as essential virtues:
…Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
The recurrence of “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13) presents a vital perspective on the hierarchy of these principles.
…because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Faith and Deeds
This consistent pairing suggests that biblical texts view mercy not as opposing justice but as its highest expression.
The network analysis (see image above) reveals how these concepts interconnect within biblical text. The forgiveness cluster shows strong relationships between core terms, with ‘forgive’ as a central concept linking to both ‘forgiven’ and ‘forgave’. These connections highlight the reciprocal nature of mercy in biblical teaching.
The justice cluster demonstrates how ‘justice’ anchors related concepts of ‘equity’ and moral rightness. This grouping appears notably in Psalm 99:4:
The King is mighty, he loves justice—you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right.
Such passages demonstrate how biblical text weaves these concepts together. The darker connecting lines in the visualisation indicate stronger relationships, whilst the lighter lines show supporting connections. Node sizes reflect each term’s prominence in these co-occurrences, showing how religious forgiveness and legal justice concepts form distinct but related clusters in biblical teaching.
The visual mapping of the biblical text shows clear patterns in how religious forgiveness and legal justice appear within scripture. From broad word frequencies to specific term relationships, these visualisations reveal a system where mercy and justice hold significant places in biblical teaching, each anchored in divine authority.
This analytical groundwork points to deeper thematic threads that need examining. However, while the visualisations and co-occurrence analysis show these terms appear together and their frequencies, they cannot yet tell us whether scripture presents these concepts as complementary or in tension. The nature of the relationship between forgiveness and justice requires a deeper analysis of how these concepts interact within biblical teaching.
Biblical Analysis: When to Forgive and When to Seek Justice
Systematic examination of the biblical text shows patterns that challenge common interpretations of religious forgiveness and legal justice. Through careful analysis of verses discussing these themes, we find guidance that differs from modern religious advice.
The text presents distinct categories of forgiveness commands, varying requirements for justice, and specific situations where each applies.
By examining these passages in detail, we can better understand when scripture calls for forgiveness and when it demands justice. This analysis shows how biblical teaching offers more nuanced guidance than the oversimplified “leave it to God” message often heard today.
Contextual Analysis of Forgiveness Commands
Biblical commands about forgiveness appear in three distinct forms:
- Divine forgiveness
- Interpersonal requirements
- Conditional situations.
Each type carries different requirements and implications for responding to wrongdoing.
Divine forgiveness in the Old Testament often links to specific actions and rituals. This appears clearly in Leviticus 5:10:
The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the prescribed way and make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.
These requirements show forgiveness isn’t automatic but often demands specific actions. The text also presents instances where God withholds forgiveness, as found in Jeremiah 5:7:
Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
Interpersonal requirements take a different form, particularly in New Testament teachings. Luke 17:4 presents clear commands about forgiving others:
Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.
Yet even here, notice the condition – repentance precedes forgiveness. This pattern appears again when Peter asks about forgiveness limits in Matthew 18:21:
Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?
The evidence shows biblical forgiveness isn’t the unconditional mandate often presented today. Instead, it operates within frameworks of justice, repentance, and accountability. Some situations demand ritual atonement, others require genuine repentance, and forgiveness might be withheld.
This finding contradicts modern religious or well-intended family and friends’ advice, often promoting immediate, unconditional forgiveness. The biblical text presents a more balanced approach. In these recognising situations, conditional situations determine when and how forgiveness should be given.
Religious Forgiveness and Legal Justice: When Divine Law Demands Action
The biblical text reveals specific circumstances where divine law mandates justice over forgiveness. This emerges most clearly in cases involving the vulnerable, where religious forgiveness and legal justice intersect with explicit commands for action.
Deuteronomy 27:19 presents an uncompromising stance:
Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.
This command shows no room for mere forgiveness – action is required. Similarly, some transgressions face explicit divine refusal of forgiveness, as shown in 2 Kings 24:4:
For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.
The text establishes clear conditions where forgiveness must yield to justice. These include:
- Protection of vulnerable groups
- Response to deliberate rebellion
- Cases of innocent bloodshed
- Situations of unrepentant wrongdoing
Hosea 12:6 reinforces this dual requirement:
But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
The command to “maintain justice” appears alongside love, suggesting both are essential divine requirements. This pairing recurs throughout the biblical text, challenging simplistic “forgive and forget” interpretations.
Even in the New Testament, where forgiveness features prominently, conditions exist. Repentance often precedes forgiveness, as found in Luke 17:3:
If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.
This shows that divine law established a framework where justice and accountability played vital roles alongside forgiveness. The text consistently shows that while forgiveness holds immense spiritual value, it should not supersede the responsibility to pursue justice, particularly in protecting the vulnerable.
The Intersection of Divine and Human Justice
The biblical text reveals a multifaceted relationship between religious forgiveness and legal justice, or the divine and human justice systems. The evidence shows these systems interweaving rather than operating independently.
This connection appears explicitly in Ezra’s (Ezra 7:25) instruction to appoint judges:
And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them.
Here, human judicial authority flows directly from divine wisdom. Yet, the text also shows limits to human justice systems. As Proverbs 29:26 notes:
Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that one gets justice.
The relationship grows more complex when examining divine responses to human justice failures. Isaiah 5:7, captures this tension:
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
This passage shows divine judgment specifically targeting the breakdown of human justice systems. Similarly, Ezekiel 9:9, records:
The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’
The text establishes clear divine expectations for human justice systems:
- They must protect the vulnerable
- They should reflect divine wisdom
- They are accountable to a higher authority
- Their failures invite divine intervention
This framework challenges both extreme positions – that we should rely solely on human justice systems or abandon them entirely for divine intervention. Instead, the evidence shows human justice operating under divine oversight, with clear standards and consequences for failure.
Misinterpreted Teachings on “Leaving it to God”
The standard advice to “leave it to God” often misrepresents what biblical text teaches about religious forgiveness and legal justice. The analysis reveals a more nuanced truth: the text rarely suggests passive acceptance of wrongdoing.
Instead, biblical passages show active engagement with justice alongside divine involvement. When Moses confronts wrongdoing, he combines prayer with action in Daniel 9:19:
Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.
This pattern appears throughout the text – prayer accompanies action rather than replacing it. Even in matters of religious forgiveness and legal justice, the evidence shows divine authority working through human systems rather than bypassing them in Hosea 12:6:
But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
Note the command to “maintain justice” alongside waiting for God. Similarly, when addressing wrongdoing, the text often demands specific actions, as shown in Leviticus 5:16:
They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.
The analysis shows biblical text supporting three key principles:
- Divine authority doesn’t negate human responsibility
- Waiting for God includes taking appropriate action
- Justice often requires both prayer and practical steps
This evidence challenges the modern tendency to use “leaving it to God” as an excuse for inaction. Instead, The text shows God working through established justice systems, requiring faith and practical engagement with legal processes.
The command to “wait for your God” appears alongside requirements for maintaining justice, suggesting that trusting God means engaging with, rather than avoiding, proper channels for addressing wrongdoing. This balanced approach starkly contrasts passive interpretations that ignore the text’s explicit calls for active participation in justice.
Religious Forgiveness and Legal Justice Must Work Together
My journey through profound injustice has taught me harsh lessons about human nature. As I fight for my children and seek accountability, well-meaning voices constantly urge me to “leave it to God” or trust that “karma will handle it.”
Friends who believe in divine justice tell me to pray and wait, while others suggest Mother Nature will balance the scales. Yet my experience reveals the hollow comfort of such passive acceptance.
The value of autonomy forms the foundation of our legal and moral systems. This autonomy gives us the right and the responsibility to hold others accountable for their actions. When someone suggests “leaving it to God” or “letting nature take its course,” they unknowingly advocate surrendering this essential human agency.
Society maintains courts and legal frameworks precisely because we recognise that justice often requires human action. The same religious texts used to swear testimony in courtrooms show divine authority working through, not against, human justice systems. This isn’t paradoxical – it’s a practical recognition that spiritual and legal remedies have their place.
The impulse to forgive and move on serves valuable purposes. It can free us from emotional burdens and prevent bitterness from consuming our lives. However, when substantial wrongs demand correction, this advice becomes a form of spiritual bypassing that enables wrongdoing to continue unchecked.
Modern narratives about forgiveness often present a false choice between seeking justice and finding peace. Yet my analysis shows these aren’t mutually exclusive. One can pursue necessary legal remedies while maintaining spiritual and emotional well-being. The key lies in understanding that religious forgiveness and legal justice don’t oppose each other – they complement our search for truth and accountability.
Like genuine forgiveness, real justice requires active engagement rather than passive acceptance. When someone suggests leaving serious wrongs to divine intervention, they misunderstand spiritual teaching and human responsibility. The examination shows that proper justice serves society’s needs while honouring more profound human dignity and autonomy truths.
The decision to pursue legal recourse isn’t a failure of forgiveness—it’s an affirmation of human worth and societal order. We honour our full humanity by maintaining our spiritual capacity for forgiveness and our commitment to justice.
After all, we build courts of law and cultivate gardens of grace for a good reason: both have their season, serve their purpose, and reflect essential aspects of human nature.
Sources
Sources for Forgive
- Genesis 50:17
- Exodus 10:17, 23:21, 32:32, 34:9
- Numbers 14:19
- Deuteronomy 29:20
- Joshua 24:19
- 1 Samuel 15:25, 25:28
- 1 Kings 8:30, 8:34, 8:36, 8:39, 8:50
- 2 Kings 5:18, 24:4
- 2 Chronicles 6:21, 6:25, 6:27, 6:30, 6:39, 7:14
- Job 8:21
- Psalm 19:12, 25:11, 79:9
- Isaiah 2:9
- Jeremiah 5:1, 5:7, 19:23, 31:34, 33:8, 36:3, 50:20
- Daniel 9:19
- Hosea 1:6, 14:2
- Amos 7:2
- Matthew 6:14, 6:15, 9:6, 18:21, 19:35
- Mark 2:7, 2:10, 11:25
- Luke 5:21, 5:24, 6:37, 11:4, 17:3, 17:4, 23:34
- Acts 5:31, 8:22
- 2 Corinthians 2:7, 12:13
- Hebrews 8:12
- 1 John 1:9
Sources for Forgiven
- Leviticus 4:20, 4:26, 4:31, 5:35, 5:10, 5:13, 5:16, 5:18, 6:7, 19:22
- Numbers 14:20, 15:25, 15:26, 15:28
- Psalm 32:1
- Isaiah 34:24
- Lamentations 3:42
- Matthew 9:2, 9:5, 12:31, 12:32
- Mark 2:5, 2:9, 3:28, 3:29, 4:12
- Luke 5:20, 5:23, 7:43, 7:47, 7:48, 12:10
- Romans 4:7
- Hebrews 10:18
- James 5:15
- 1 John 2:12
Sources for Forgiveness
- Psalm 130:4
- Matthew 26:28
- Mark 1:4
- Luke 1:77, 3:3, 24:47
- Acts 2:38, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18
- 2 Corinthians 2:4
- Ephesians 1:7
- Colossians 1:14
- Hebrews 9:22
- 1 John 1:4
Sources for Forgives
- Psalm 103:3
- Micah 7:18
- Matthew 9:34
- Mark 2:45
- Luke 5:16, 7:49
Sources for Forgiving
- Exodus 34:7
- Numbers 14:18
- Nehemiah 9:17
- Psalm 86:5, 99:8
- Daniel 9:9
Sources for Equity
Psalm 9:8, 58:1, 67:4, 75:2, 96:10, 99:9
Sources for Justice
- Genesis 49:16
- Exodus 23:2, 23:6
- Leviticus 19:15
- Deuteronomy 16:19, 16:20, 24:17, 27:19
- 1 Samuel 8:3
- 2 Samuel 15:4, 15:6
- 1 Kings 3:11, 4:28, 7:7, 10:9
- 2 Chronicles 9:8
- Ezra 7:25
- Esther 1:13
- Job 8:3, 9:19, 19:7, 27:2, 29:14, 31:13, 34:5, 34:12, 34:17, 36:3, 37:23, 40:8
- Psalm 7:6, 9:16, 12:7, 33:5, 36:6, 45:4, 45:6, 50:6, 58:2, 72:1, 72:2, 89:14, 97:2, 101:1, 103:6, 112:5, 140:12
- Proverbs 8:20, 16:10, 17:23, 18:5, 19:28, 21:15, 29:4, 29:7, 29:26
- Ecclesiastes 3:16, 5:8
- Isaiah 1:17, 1:21, 1:27, 5:7, 5:16, 5:23, 9:7, 10:2, 11:4, 16:5, 28:6, 28:17, 29:21, 30:18, 32:1, 32:16, 33:5, 42:1, 42:3, 42:4, 51:4, 51:5, 56:1, 59:4, 59:8, 59:9, 59:11, 59:14, 59:15, 61:8
- Jeremiah 5:28, 9:24, 12:1, 21:12
- Lamentations 3:36
- Ezekiel 22:29, 34:16
- Hosea 2:19, 12:6
- Amos 2:7, 5:7, 5:10, 5:12, 5:15, 5:24, 6:12
- Micah 3:1, 3:8, 3:9
- Habakkuk 1:4
- Zephaniah 3:5
- Zechariah 7:9
- Malachi 3:17, 3:5
- Matthew 12:18, 12:20, 23:23
- Luke 11:42, 18:3, 18:5, 18:7, 18:8
- Acts 8:33, 17:31, 28:4
- 2 Corinthians 7:11
- Hebrews 1:8, 11:33
- Revelation 19:11
Sources for Injustice
- 2 Chronicles 19:7
- Job 5:16
- Psalm 58:2, 64:6
- Proverbs 13:23, 16:8, 22:8
- Isaiah 58:6
- Jeremiah 22:13
- Ezekiel 9:9
- Habakkuk 1:3, 2:12
Sources for Just and Right
- 2 Samuel 8:15
- 1 Chronicles 18:14
- Nehemiah 9:13
- Jeremiah 22:3, 23:5, 33:15
- Ezekiel 18:5, 18:19, 18:21, 18:27, 33:14, 33:16, 33:19, 45:9
Additional Sources
- Justice and Mercy: Exodus 23:31
- Judgment and Justice: Job 36:17
- Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment: James 2:13
- Unforgiving: 2 Timothy 3:3
Sources for Co-Occurrence Phrases
- Forgive, Forgiven: Matthew 6:12, John 20:23, 2 Corinthians 2:10
- Forgive, Forgave: Colossians 3:13
- Forgiving, Forgave: Ephesians 4:32
- Justice, Equity, Just and Right: Psalm 99:4