Christian Pure

17 Bible Verses About Empathy

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Hebrews 4:15 uses sympatheo of Jesus, who was “tempted in every way, just as we are,” and Hebrews 10:34 uses the same verb of believers who suffered along with prisoners.
  • Romans 12:15, 1 Peter 3:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:26 ask the church to share one another’s joy and suffering, and 1 Corinthians 12:26 compares it to a body whose parts suffer together.
  • Exodus 23:9 bases the command not to oppress foreigners on Israel knowing “how it feels to be foreigners” from its time in Egypt.
  • Job’s friends sat with him in silence for seven days, and when they began to argue, Job called them “miserable comforters.”
  • The Samaritan’s pity in Luke 10:33 and Jesus’ compassion for the crowds in Matthew 9:36 translate the same Greek verb, splagchnizomai.

The Bible describes empathy as sharing what another person suffers or feels. Jesus can “empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15), believers are to “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15), and Exodus 23:9 reminds Israel that it knows how foreigners feel. In Luke 10:33-34 the Samaritan acts on his pity. Several of these passages use Greek words built from syn, with, and pascho, to suffer: sympatheo in Hebrews 4:15 and 10:34, sympathes in 1 Peter 3:8 and sympascho in 1…

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Bibliography (Click to show)

Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.

Strong’s Greek 4834, συμπαθέω (sympatheo): to sympathize, to have compassion, to suffer with; used in Hebrews 4:15 and 10:34. biblehub.com/greek/4834

Strong’s Greek 4835, συμπαθής (sympathes): sympathetic, suffering or feeling the like with another; used in 1 Peter 3:8. biblehub.com/greek/4835

Strong’s Greek 4841, συμπάσχω (sympascho): to suffer with; used in a medical sense by Hippocrates and Galen, and in 1 Corinthians 12:26. biblehub.com/greek/4841

Strong’s Greek 4697, σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai): to be moved with compassion, the inner organs being thought the seat of love and pity; used in Matthew 9:36 and Luke 10:33. biblehub.com/greek/4697

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