Deuteronomy 19:13

19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent ¹  from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ²  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ³ 

For these people lack understanding, ⁴ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Jeremiah 13:14

13:14 And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ⁵  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ⁶  says the Lord.”

Romans 9:15

9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ⁷ 

James 2:13

2:13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over ⁸  judgment.

¹ sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).

² tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

³ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

⁴ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

⁵ tn Or “children along with their parents”; Heb “fathers and children together.”

⁶ tn Heb “I will not show…so as not to destroy them.”

⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 33:19.

⁸ tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.