Kindness sounds simple until someone cuts you off in traffic, criticizes your work unfairly, or betrays your trust. It’s easy to be kind to people who are kind to you. The challenge comes when kindness requires extending grace to the rude, patience to the difficult, and compassion to those who don’t deserve it. You get tired of being nice when people take advantage of it. You wonder if kindness makes you a doormat, if being gracious means letting people walk all over you.
The Bible presents kindness not as weakness but as strength, not as naivety but as an intentional choice to reflect God’s character. God’s kindness toward us is staggering. While we were still sinners, rebellious and hostile, He extended kindness that led to our salvation. His kindness isn’t conditional on our performance or dependent on our lovability. It flows from His nature, and He calls us to show that same undeserved, unexpected kindness to others. Kindness is the fruit of the Spirit, evidence of transformation, and one of the clearest ways we demonstrate Christ’s love to a harsh world.
These verses challenge us to let kindness mark our interactions, relationships, and responses, especially when it costs us something to give it.
Bible Verses About Kindness
1. Ephesians 4:32 – Be Kind and Compassionate to One Another
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
New International Version (NIV)
2. Colossians 3:12 – Clothe Yourselves with Kindness
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3. Proverbs 11:17 – A Kind Man Benefits Himself
Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.
New King James Version (NKJV)
4. Luke 6:35 – Love Your Enemies, Do Good to Them
Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.
New Living Translation (NLT)
5. Galatians 5:22-23 – The Fruit of the Spirit Is Kindness
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
6. Romans 2:4 – God’s Kindness Is Intended to Lead You to Repentance
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
7. Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever Is Kind to the Poor Lends to the Lord
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
King James Version (KJV)
8. 1 Corinthians 13:4 – Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
9. Proverbs 31:26 – She Speaks with Wisdom, and Faithful Instruction
She opens her mouth in wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.
The Message (MSG)
10. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – Always Strive to Do What Is Good
See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
11. Proverbs 14:21 – Blessed Is the One Who Is Kind to the Needy
The one who despises his neighbor sins, but whoever is kind to the needy is blessed.
New English Translation (NET)
12. 2 Peter 1:5-7 – Add to Your Faith Kindness
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
13. Proverbs 14:31 – Whoever Is Kind to the Needy Honors God
If you mistreat the poor, you insult your Creator; if you are kind to them, you show him respect.
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
14. Matthew 5:7 – Blessed Are the Merciful
God blesses those who are merciful. They will be shown mercy.
New International Reader’s Version (NIrV)
15. Proverbs 16:24 – Gracious Words Are a Honeycomb
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
New King James Version (NKJV)
16. Romans 12:10 – Be Devoted to One Another in Love
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
New International Version (NIV)
17. Proverbs 21:21 – Whoever Pursues Righteousness and Kindness
Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.
English Standard Version (ESV)
18. Zechariah 7:9 – Show Mercy and Kindness
Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
19. Titus 3:4-5 – When the Kindness and Love of God Appeared
But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
New Living Translation (NLT)
20. 1 Peter 3:8 – Be Sympathetic, Love One Another
Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love believers, and be compassionate and humble.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
21. Micah 6:8 – What Does the Lord Require of You?
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
22. Proverbs 12:25 – Kindness Cheers It Up
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
King James Version (KJV)
23. Psalm 117:2 – His Kindness Toward Us Is Great
for great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
24. Luke 10:37 – Go and Do Likewise
The one who treated him kindly.
The Message (MSG)
25. Ruth 2:20 – He Has Not Stopped Showing His Kindness
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not withheld his kindness from the living and from the dead.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
26. Psalm 31:21 – Praise Be to the Lord
Worthy of praise is the LORD, for he has wondrously demonstrated his loyal love to me when I was besieged by enemies!
New English Translation (NET)
27. Isaiah 54:8 – With Everlasting Kindness I Will Have Compassion
In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
28. 2 Samuel 9:3 – Show Him God’s Kindness
The king asked, “Isn’t there anyone left in Saul’s family? If there is, I want to be kind to him for Jonathan’s sake.”
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
29. 1 Samuel 20:14-15 – Show Me Unfailing Kindness
But show me unfailing kindness like the LORD’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family.
New International Reader’s Version (NIrV)
30. Psalm 109:21 – Deal Well with Me for Your Name’s Sake
But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name’s sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
New King James Version (NKJV)
31. Nehemiah 9:17 – But You Are a Forgiving God
They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them.
New International Version (NIV)
32. Joel 2:13 – Return to the Lord Your God
and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
English Standard Version (ESV)
33. Jonah 4:2 – You Are a Gracious and Compassionate God
So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
34. Hosea 6:6 – I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice
I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
New Living Translation (NLT)
35. Matthew 7:12 – Do to Others What You Would Have Them Do
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About Kindness
Kindness is one of the most tangible ways we reflect God’s character to the world. It’s not just being nice when convenient but choosing grace when harshness would be easier, extending compassion when judgment feels justified, and treating people better than they’ve earned. God’s kindness toward us while we were still sinners is the model: undeserved, unexpected, and transformative. That same kindness is what He produces in us through His Spirit and what He calls us to show others.
What strikes me most about biblical kindness is how active and costly it is. It’s not passive pleasantness but intentional acts of grace. The Good Samaritan showed kindness by stopping, helping, and paying for a stranger’s care. Ruth showed kindness by staying with Naomi when leaving would have been easier. Jesus showed kindness by touching lepers, eating with sinners, and welcoming children. Kindness requires something from us: time, resources, patience, and sometimes setting aside our own comfort or convenience.
The most encouraging truth about kindness is its power. Kind words are sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Kindness shown to the needy honors God. God’s kindness leads people to repentance. Small acts of kindness can have an eternal impact because they point people to the God who is fundamentally kind and who extends His kindness to all who will receive it.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your kindness toward me, for extending grace when I deserved judgment, for showing compassion when I was rebellious. Your kindness led me to repentance and transformed my life. Help me to reflect that same kindness to others.
Make me quick to show kindness and slow to give harshness. Help me to see opportunities to extend grace, to speak kind words, and to act with compassion even when it costs me something. When someone is rude, difficult, or unkind to me, help me to respond with the kindness You’ve shown me rather than retaliating or withdrawing.
Give me eyes to see the needy, the hurting, and the overlooked. Help me to show kindness not just to those who can repay me but to those who have nothing to offer in return. Let my kindness be genuine, flowing from Your Spirit in me rather than from desire for recognition or reward.
Thank You that kindness is not weakness but strength, that it honors You and blesses others. Make me known for kindness.
In Jesus’ compassionate Name, Amen.
Evang. Anabelle Thompson is the founder of Believers Refuge, a Scripture-based resource that helps Christians to find biblical guidance for life’s challenges.
With over 15 years of ministry experience and a decade of dedicated Bible study, she creates content that connects believers with relevant Scripture for their daily struggles.
Her work has reached over 76,000 monthly readers (which is projected to reach 100,000 readers by the end of 2025) seeking practical faith applications, biblical encouragement, and spiritual guidance rooted in God’s Word.
She writes from personal experience, having walked through seasons of waiting, breakthrough, and spiritual growth that inform her teaching.
Evang. Thompson brings 12 years of active ministry and evangelism experience, along with over 10 years of systematic Bible study and theological research.
As a former small group leader and Sunday school teacher, she has published over 200 biblical resources and devotional studies.
She specializes in applying Scripture to everyday life challenges and regularly studies the original Hebrew and Greek texts for a deeper biblical understanding.