For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Jesus’ words right after the Lord’s Prayer: receiving God’s forgiveness and forgiving others belong together. Forgiving often takes time, and it never means accepting harm.
KJV11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
The life and teaching of Jesus, including the Sermon on the Mount, written for Jewish readers.
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Peter asks if seven times is enough; Jesus answers seventy times seven: forgiveness that stops counting. It is not a call to stay where you are being hurt.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
In Jesus’ parable, the father sees his son far off and runs to meet him. That is how God welcomes those who come back.
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
When you pray, forgive what you hold against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you too. Forgiving can take time, and it never means accepting harm.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
David on the relief of being forgiven: blessed is the one whose sin is covered.