ספר שמות

The word ‎ויעבור‎ at the beginning of the ‎list of 13 attributes of G’d that may be invoked when needed, ‎hints at the fact that G’d, in that instance, will “pass,” i.e. cross ‎over the line separating the attribute of Justice from the attribute ‎of Mercy. Instead of G’d facing the repentant sinner without a ‎לבוש‎, some garment, designed to tone down the enormity of ‎having to face the Creator in His unadorned essence, ‎פניו‎, “face,” ‎He will display a more forgiving posture in recognition of the ‎sinner having sought Him out to confess and to ask forgiveness, ‎i.e. another chance to make a new beginning. We must ‎remember however, that if we expect G’d to display the attribute ‎of Mercy toward us, we must first show Him that we on pour part ‎have departed from our standards of demanding strict compliance ‎with the demands of justice by having demonstrated that we too ‎can forego something that we felt we were entitled to. The line ‎אני לדודי ודודי לי‎ in Song of Songs 6,3 may also be understood in a ‎similar sense, as “when I relate appropriately to my beloved, my ‎beloved in turn will reciprocate.”