21 Bible verses about kindness to practise before you feel like it
Written by Raphael Navarro Schmitt · Reviewed by Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt ·
Short answer
Kindness in the Bible is action before feeling. Ephesians 4:32 tells you to be kind, merciful and forgiving; Micah 6:8 reduces what God asks to three verbs — act with judgment, love mercy, walk carefully with him — and Luke 6:35 sets the highest bar: be good to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Biblical kindness almost never shows up as a temperament. It shows up as something you do: feed someone, lend without expecting it back, stop on the road, visit the person in prison, refuse to return the harm. None of those verbs depends on being in a good mood that day.
That changes the target. If kindness were a way of being, anyone not born that way would be excused. Because it is a practice, it can be learned — and, like every practice, it starts clumsy. The Samaritan in the parable did not stop because he felt something beautiful: he stopped, got down, cleaned the wound, and paid the innkeeper. His compassion showed up in his budget.
The list opens with the texts that say what to do, moves through the ones that say who with, and ends with the ones explaining where the kindness we are trying to imitate came from in the first place.
All 21 verses, one by one
And be kind and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.
The most quoted verse on the subject, and the second half is the expensive one: forgiving the way you were forgiven. The measure is not the size of the offence against you, it is the size of the one already cancelled in your favour.
Read the chapterTherefore, clothe yourselves like the elect of God: holy and beloved, with hearts of mercy, kindness, humility, modesty, and patience.
The image is clothing again: kindness is put on. And the outfit has five pieces, which means nobody leaves the house dressed in politeness alone — humility and patience come in the same set.
Read the chapter22But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance,
23meekness, faith, modesty, abstinence, chastity. There is no law against such things.
Fruit, singular, with a long list of characteristics attached — this translation runs to twelve of them. Kindness is not an item you pick instead of the others: it is one face of the same thing growing.
Read the chapterSo truly, love your enemies. Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked.
The highest bar the Bible sets on this subject, and the reason given for it is surprising: God is like that with the ungrateful and the wicked. Being good to people who never pay you back is not naivety — it is a family resemblance.
Read the chapterAnd exactly as you would want people to treat you, treat them also the same.
The simplest rule ever formulated, and the easiest to check: think what you would want done to you in that situation, and do that. It requires no spiritual discernment at all.
Read the chapter33But a certain Samaritan, being on a journey, came near him. And seeing him, he was moved by mercy.
34And approaching him, he bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. And setting him on his pack animal, he brought him to an inn, and he took care of him.
35And the next day, he took out two denarii, and he gave them to the proprietor, and he said: ‘Take care of him. And whatever extra you will have spent, I will repay to you at my return.’
36Which of these three, does it seem to you, was a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”
37Then he said, “The one who acted with mercy toward him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go, and act similarly.”
Notice what the Samaritan’s mercy cost him: bandages, oil, wine, transport, an inn, two denarii up front and a promise to come back and settle the rest. A feeling that never reaches the wallet or the calendar is not what this text calls mercy.
Read the chapter35For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in;
36naked, and you covered me; sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’
37Then the just will answer him, saying: ‘Lord, when have we seen you hungry, and fed you; thirsty, and given you drink?
38And when have we seen you a stranger, and taken you in? Or naked, and covered you?
39Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit to you?’
40And in response, the King shall say to them, ‘Amen I say to you, whenever you did this for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did it for me.’
Jesus’ list is made entirely of basics: food, water, clothing, a visit. And the just in the story do not remember doing anything special — which may be the best sign that it was a habit rather than a project.
Read the chapterI will reveal to you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires from you, and how to act with judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk carefully with your God.
The leanest answer the Old Testament gives to "what does God want from me". Three verbs, and the middle one is to love mercy — not merely to perform it against your will.
Read the chapter9Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge with true judgment, and act with mercy and compassion, each and every one with his brother.
10And do not find fault with the widow, and the orphan, and the newcomer, and the poor. And let not a man consider evil in his heart towards his brother.
The list of people you may not find fault with is specific: the widow, the orphan, the newcomer, the poor. In the prophets, kindness almost always has a social address — it is never a diffuse warmth towards humanity in general.
Read the chapterWhoever slanders the indigent argues against his Maker. But he who has compassion on the poor honors his Maker.
The proverb draws a straight line: how you treat the poor is an argument with the one who made them. It is not a pious metaphor — it is the logic Matthew 25 will develop a thousand years later.
Read the chapterWhoever is merciful to the poor lends to the Lord. And he will repay him for his efforts.
The image is financial and bold: whoever helps the poor is lending to God. It completely changes who the debtor is in that relationship.
Read the chapterA merciful man benefits his own soul. But whoever is cruel casts out even his close relatives.
The proverb notices a side effect nobody goes looking for: mercy benefits the person practising it, and cruelty ends up driving away even the cruel man’s own relatives. It is description, not reward.
Read the chapter3Let not mercy and truth abandon you: encircle them around your throat, and inscribe them on the tablets of your heart.
4And so shall you discover grace and good discipline, in the sight of God and men.
Mercy and truth get tied around the throat and written on the tablets of the heart — one image outside, one inside. The text knows that either one on its own does not hold.
Read the chapterloving one another with fraternal charity, surpassing one another in honor:
The detail is in the verb: surpassing one another in honour. It is not splitting the honour down the middle, it is competing to give more — the one contest Scripture encourages.
Read the chapterSee to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone. Instead, always pursue whatever is good, with one another and with all.
The instruction has two halves: do not repay evil, and always pursue what is good. The first is defence, the second is initiative — and most of us stop at the first and assume we are done.
Read the chapterTherefore, while we have time, we should do good works toward everyone, and most of all toward those who are of the household of the faith.
Paul puts a deadline in the sentence: while we have time. Kindness postponed until the schedule clears is kindness that will not happen.
Read the chapterBut do not be willing to forget good works and fellowship. For God is deserving of such sacrifices.
Doing good and sharing are called sacrifices — a heavy word in a book that talks about the temple constantly. The small gesture is treated as worship.
Read the chapterI have revealed all things to you, because by laboring in this way, it is necessary to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Paul quotes a line of Jesus that appears in none of the four gospels. It is the only time that happens in the New Testament — and this is the sentence that was saved.
Read the chapterThe Lord is sweet to all things, and his compassion is upon all his works.
The reach is unrestricted: to all things, over everything he made. And notice the word this translation chooses — the Lord is "sweet", not merely fair. It is the verse that stops kindness from turning into a prize for the deserving.
Read the chapterOr do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and forbearance? Do you not know that the kindness of God is calling you to repentance?
The verse that rearranges the whole subject: it is the kindness of God that calls people to repentance, not the severity. Worth reading if you have spent years trying to correct someone by the opposite method.
Read the chapter4But then the kindness and humanity of God our Savior appeared.
5And he saved us, not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renovation of the Holy Spirit,
Closes the list by explaining where everything above came from. The kindness practised here is imitation, not invention — and the text goes out of its way to say it was never earned by works.
Read the chapter
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about kindness?
Scripture treats kindness as a practice rather than a temperament. Ephesians 4:32 ties it to forgiving, Galatians 5:22 lists it in the fruit of the Spirit, and Luke 6:35 extends the demand to people who never reciprocate. In Matthew 25:35-40 what is asked for is concrete: food, water, clothing, a visit.
How do I show kindness to someone who treats me badly?
Luke 6:35 is the direct text, and the reason it gives is not psychological: God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, so kindness in that case is a family resemblance. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 adds the practical step of not returning the harm — which is not the same as pretending no harm was done.
Is kindness the same as goodness in the Bible?
The two words sit side by side in Galatians 5:22 and again in Colossians 3:12, which suggests neighbouring but not identical shades. In practice, kindness tends to describe how you treat someone, and goodness the disposition to do them good. No biblical argument depends on separating them.
Is being too kind the same as being naive?
The texts do not ask for naivety. Zechariah 7:9 ties mercy to judging truthfully, and Proverbs treats the merciful person as someone with understanding rather than illusions. Biblical kindness lives alongside limits and discernment; what it will not do is use prudence as an excuse never to act.
A prayer to take with you
Lord, make me notice the person next to me I have not really seen in months. Take away the kindness that only appears when it is convenient, and give me the nerve for the small gesture that costs something. And when I am treated badly, let me not send it back. Amen.