---
title: Exodus 34:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-34-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-34-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Exodus 34:6
testament: OT
section: Law
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Exodus 34:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out:  “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

## JW Usage

JWs love Exodus 34:6 — it is one of the Bible's great self- descriptions of Jehovah as "a God merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in loyal love and truth." The verse is read as support for a loving, patient God who would never send sincere people to eternal destruction without giving them opportunity to repent. It appears regularly in JW literature alongside "God is love" texts.

## Protestant Usage

Exodus 34:6 and 34:7 are a single self-description given by God in his own voice, and they must be read together. Verse 6 declares mercy, grace, loyal love, forgiveness. Verse 7 adds "he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." Both, in the same breath. Any theology that holds one half without the other is describing a different God than the one speaking on Sinai. A Jehovah whose justice waives sin without cost is not the Jehovah of Exodus 34:7; a Jehovah whose mercy is merely mechanical covenant-debt is not the Jehovah of Exodus 34:6. The question the whole Bible answers is: how can both verses be fully true of the same God without contradiction? The cross is the only answer. Romans 3:26 states it precisely — God is "just *and* the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Justice fully satisfied; mercy fully extended. Exodus 34:6 and Romans 3:26 meet at Calvary.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Just AND Merciful — How the Cross Solves the Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/just-and-merciful.md) — Romans 3:26 / Exodus 34:6–7 [Salvation]