What Does “Pity (piety)” Mean in the Bible?
Compassion. “Have pity on us” is asking God to look on us with love and forgive us.
A detail
- Also: the love for God that shows when we pray. In English it is called “piety,” and it is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Where it appears in the Bible
Psalms 51:3
What the Bible says
Psalms 51:3
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: RAE, “piedad”; Catechism 1831