Updated on September 13, 2026

Prayer for Forgiveness

Q: Do I have to forgive someone who is not sorry?

Jesus forgave from the cross people who had not asked. Forgiving does not mean the other person was right, and it does not require you to trust them again or stay within reach of harm. It means you stop holding the debt yourself and hand it to God, who judges more fairly than resentment does.

Q: How do I know God has really forgiven me?

Not by how you feel the next morning; guilt often lingers after forgiveness has already been given. John writes that if we confess, God is faithful and just to forgive. The evidence is his promise, not your mood, and returning to the same confession again and again is a sign of doubt in him, not of unfinished business.

Q: Is forgiving the same as forgetting?

No. Joseph forgave his brothers and still remembered exactly what they had done; the memory is what made the forgiveness real. What changes is not the record but what you do with it: you stop using it as a weapon, and you let God decide what it deserves.

A prayer to ask God's forgiveness, and to find the strength to forgive someone else

David wrote Psalm 51 after the worst thing he ever did, and he did not soften it. Asking forgiveness means saying plainly what happened; giving it means letting go of a debt someone really owes. This prayer holds both, the wrong we did and the wrong done to us, and you can keep whichever half you need tonight.

The prayer

Lord, I come to you with something I would rather not say out loud. You already know it, so I will not dress it up: I did wrong, and it hurt someone, and it put distance between us.

Forgive me. Not because I have made up for it, but because you are merciful and you promised to be. Wash what I cannot wash, and give me the courage to make right what can still be made right.

And there is someone I need to forgive. I am still carrying what they did, and it is heavy. I do not feel ready, so I ask you to begin the work in me: loosen my grip on the debt, and let me hand it to you instead of holding it against them.

Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. I trust your mercy for what I did, and I trust your justice for what was done to me. Amen.

In one breath

Lord, I did wrong and I am sorry; forgive me. And help me forgive the one who wronged me, because I cannot do it alone. Amen.

Verses to hold on to

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalms 51:10David's request after his worst failure: not a lighter sentence, but a new heart.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9The promise this prayer rests on: confession is met with forgiveness, not with a wait.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32Forgiving others is anchored in having been forgiven first, which is where the strength for it comes from.

1 John 1:9 was the verse of the day on September 16, 2026. See that day

How to pray it

Say what you did in plain words, without explaining why it was understandable.
If you are forgiving someone, name the person and the specific wrong; a vague forgiveness rarely holds.
Expect to pray this more than once; forgiving is usually a direction you keep choosing, not a single moment.

Make it your own

Say what you are living, in a few words, and receive this prayer written for your situation.

Your words
Your prayer

Questions

Do I have to forgive someone who is not sorry?+

How do I know God has really forgiven me?+

Is forgiving the same as forgetting?+

Other prayers

All prayers

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