Hebrews 8:12

12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”^[a]

Hebrews 8:12 in Other Translations

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

12 They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

12 For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins."

Hebrews 8:12 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 8:12

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
That is, sin; for all unrighteousness is sin, being contrary to the justice of God, and his righteous law: and the phrase is expressive of God's forgiveness of it, which is a very considerable article of the covenant of grace; mercy is the spring and original of pardon; it is what God delights in, and therefore he pardons freely; it is large and abundant, and hence he pardons fully; and this lays a foundation for hope in sensible sinners: and the way and means, in and by which God pardons, is the propitiatory sacrifice of his Son; and the word here rendered "merciful", signifies "propitious"; God pardons none but those to whom he is pacified, or rendered propitious by Christ; there is no mercy, nor pardon, but through him; he pardons on the foot of reconciliation and satisfaction for sin by Christ; so that forgiveness of sin is an act of justice, as well as of mercy; or it is an act of mercy streaming through the blood and sacrifice of Christ.

And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more;
by which are meant all kind of sin, original and actual; sins before and after conversion; every sin but that against the Holy Ghost, and that God's covenant people are never guilty of; these God remembers no more; he casts them behind his back, and into the depths of the sea, so that when they are sought for, they shall not be found; God will never charge them with them, or punish them for them: this is another phrase to express the forgiveness of sins, and distinguishes the new covenant from the old one, or the former dispensation; in which, though there were many typical sacrifices, and a typical removal of sin, yet there was a remembrance of it every year.

Hebrews 8:12 In-Context

10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Cross References

• 1. Hebrews 10:17
• 2. Romans 11:27

Footnotes

• [a]. Jer. 31:31-34