Hebrews 10:17 tells believers that God promises not to hold their sins against them anymore. Once forgiveness has been given through Christ, God does not keep a running record of those sins or bring them back up. The words come from the author of Hebrews, who is quoting God’s promise of the new covenant from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and passing it on to a community of Jewish Christians.
“I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
Hebrews 10:17 (WEB)
What Hebrews 10:17 Means
The verse begins with God speaking in the first person, “I will remember,” which may sound odd at first. In Hebrews, “remember” does not mean that God forgets nothing and then tries to recall. It means God chooses to set something aside and act as if it has no bearing on the relationship. When the Bible says God remembers someone, it often means he acts on their behalf, so the reverse here means he will not act against them because of what they did.
The phrase “their sins and their iniquities” uses two words for wrongdoing. Sins are missed marks, falling short of what is right, while iniquities point to twisted or crooked conduct. Together they cover the whole range of human failure, from small slips to deliberate wrongs. The promise is that none of it will be held against those who belong to God’s covenant.
The verse does not promise that believers will never feel guilt, never face consequences for their actions, or never need to confess. Hebrews is talking about God’s legal and relational stance toward his people. It assures them that the debt has been dealt with, so the basis for condemnation is gone.
The Context of Hebrews 10:17
Hebrews was written to Christians, most likely Jewish believers, who were under pressure and tempted to return to the sacrificial system of the temple as their main way of approaching God. The author, traditionally identified as Paul but anonymous in the text itself, argues that Jesus’s single sacrifice has accomplished what the repeated animal offerings could never do. The whole letter builds the case that Christ is greater than the angels, Moses, and the Levitical priesthood.
Just before the verse, Hebrews 10:14 says that by one offering Christ has perfected forever those being made holy, and verse 18 draws the conclusion that where forgiveness is, there is no more need for an offering for sin. Verse 17 sits in the middle as the proof that this forgiveness is real and lasting. Read in that setting, the verse is not a stand-alone comfort but the foundation for the argument that Jesus’s sacrifice is final and sufficient.
Key Phrases in Hebrews 10:17
Jeremiah 31:34
They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
(WEB)
This is the original prophecy the author of Hebrews is quoting. Reading it shows that the promise of God forgiving and forgetting sins belongs to the new covenant he planned from the beginning, and that Christ is the one who makes that covenant real for his people.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
(WEB)
This psalm describes how far God removes our transgressions from us, using the image of the east and the west. It helps the reader see the same generous forgiveness that Hebrews describes, expressed through a different and vivid picture of God’s mercy.
A Short Prayer From Hebrews 10:17
Lord, thank you that you have chosen not to hold my sins against me. I bring you the failures I keep replaying in my mind, and I ask you to help me believe that you have truly put them away. Teach me to receive your forgiveness without treating it as small, and to live with the freedom that comes from knowing my debt is paid. Help me extend that same mercy to the people around me. Amen.
