As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Parallel translations
- KJV As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
- BSB As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
- NKJV As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
- NASB As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.
- NLT He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As far as the east is from the west, so far God removes our transgressions from us. Forgiveness in Christ is complete and final.
Overview
East and west never meet, an image of infinite, immeasurable distance. God removes our sins so thoroughly that they can never be brought back against us. This separation is accomplished by Christ, who took away our sin so that God remembers it no more (Hebrews 8:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- 1 Jn 1:7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- Mic 7:18Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- Jer 31:34and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”
- Heb 10:2Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?
- 2 Sam 12:13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
- Jer 50:20In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there will be none; also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
- Isa 45:6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
- Ps 113:3From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, Yahweh’s name is to be praised.
- Ps 50:1A Psalm by Asaph. The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 103:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.