DEUT440 The seventeenth principle [of repentance] is to pursue acts of kindness and truth, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 16:6), "Through kindness and truth transgression is atoned for, and through fear of Hashem [to] turn from evil." Contemplate the hidden meaning of this pasuk. In truth, if the sinner does not return to Hashem, his transgression will not be atoned for by an act of kindness, as the pasuk says [this verse], "Who shows no favoritism and accepts no bribes." Our sages, z"l, interpreted this as follows (see Sifrei 33:6; Yalkut Mishlei 947): "He will not accept being bribed by a mitzvah, to pardon and overlook sins." They further said (Bava Kama 50a), "Whoever says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu overlooks things will have his life overlooked." It is just that Hashem is slow to anger; but if they do not heed His word, their actions will be repaid in kind [Yeshayahu 65:7]. Thus, when Shlomo [HaMelech], a"h, said, "Through kindness and truth transgression is atoned for"--he was referring to one who [first] does teshuvah. There are sins for which repentance and Yom Kippur suspend [atonement], and suffering purges [and completes the atonement], as we will explain in the Fourth Gate. Yet, an act of kindness shields the sinner and safeguards him from [the need for] suffering, just as it also rescues one from death, as the pasuk states (Mishlei 10:2), "Charity delivers [one] from death." [Rabbi Yonah has just explained how kindness helps achieve atonement -- by taking the place of suffering. ...]