Conviction

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Of Sin

• Genesis 4:13 But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
• Deuteronomy 28:65–67 Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. In the m…
• Job 40:4–5 “Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth. I have spoken once, but I have no answer — twice, but I have nothing to add.”
• Psalm 31:10 For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.
• Psalm 38:1–22 A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin. For my iniq…
• Psalm 51:1–4 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I kn…
• Psalm 51:7–17 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not a…
• Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
• Lamentations 1:20 See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
• Ezekiel 7:16–17 The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity. Every hand will go limp, and every knee will turn to water.

See SIN, CONFESSION OF

Instances of

Adam and Eve, after their disobedience

• Genesis 3:8–10 Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?” “I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied…

Joseph's brother, on account of their cruelty to Joseph

• Genesis 42:21–22 Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now w…
• Genesis 44:16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves— both we and the one who was found with the cup.”
• Genesis 45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.
• Genesis 50:15–21 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please…

Pharaoh

After the plague of hail

• Exodus 9:27–28 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”

The plague of locusts

• Exodus 10:16–17 Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”

The death of the firstborn

• Exodus 12:32 Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.”

The Israelites

After being rebuked and punished for worshiping the golden calf

• Exodus 33:4 When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry.

The death of the ten spies and their being sentenced to wander for forty years

• Numbers 14:39–40 And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.”

Their complaining against God and being bitten by fiery serpents

• Numbers 21:7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.

Saul, after sparing Agag and the best of the spoils

• 1 Samuel 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

David after the pestilence sent on account of his numbering the people

• 1 Chronicles 21:30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

See PSALMS, PENITENTIAL

Widow of Zarephath, when her son died

• 1 Kings 17:18 “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”

Belshazzar, when he "saw the part of the hand that wrote,"

• Daniel 5:6 his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.

Darius, when Daniel was in the lions' den

• Daniel 6:18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.

Mariners

After casting Jonah into the sea

• Jonah 1:16 Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to Him.

At the preaching of Jonah

• Jonah 3 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.” This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day jour… (whole chapter)
• Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
• Luke 11:32 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah, in the belly of the great fish

• Jonah 2 From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers… (whole chapter)

Herod, when he heard of the fame of Jesus

• Matthew 14:2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
• Mark 6:14 Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
• Luke 9:7 When Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, he was perplexed. For some were saying that John had risen from the dead,

Jews, when Jesus commanded the guiltless man to cast the first stone at the woman taken in adultery

• John 8:9 When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.

Judas, after his betrayal of Jesus

• Matthew 27:3–5 When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” So Judas thre…

Saul of Tarsus, when he saw Jesus on the way to Damascus

• Acts 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Felix, under the preaching of Paul

• Acts 24:25 As Paul expounded on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now. When I find the time, I will call for you.”

Philippian jailer, after the earthquake

• Acts 16:30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

See Wicked

From God

• Job 33:14–30 For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices. In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds, He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings to turn a man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the…
• John 6:44–45 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me —
• John 16:7–11 But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because they do not believ…
• Acts 16:14 Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

See Penitents

See Remorse

See Repentance

See SIN, CONFESSION OF

Unjust, of Innocent Persons

See Accusation, False

See Indictments