100 Bible Verses about People Persecuting Others

Matthew 5:10-12 ESV / 13 helpful votes

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Acts 8:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Romans 12:14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Revelation 2:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

1 Peter 4:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

John 15:19 ESV / 8 helpful votes

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Luke 6:22 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!

Matthew 5:11 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

1 Peter 4:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Romans 12:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

John 15:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Matthew 5:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Psalm 119:161 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

1 Peter 3:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

1 Peter 3:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

Revelation 20:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

1 Peter 4:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

1 Peter 4:12-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Revelation 17:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Revelation 1:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

1 John 3:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Hebrews 10:33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

Philippians 3:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Galatians 5:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Galatians 5:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

Galatians 4:29 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

1 Corinthians 4:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

Romans 8:35 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 3:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Acts 7:1-60 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. ...

Matthew 10:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Psalm 119:86 ESV / 4 helpful votes

All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me!

2 Timothy 3:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Romans 12:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Acts 13:50 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

Acts 7:52 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

Luke 23:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Luke 6:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Mark 4:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

Matthew 23:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

Matthew 5:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Revelation 6:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 6:9-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

Revelation 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

Revelation 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

Revelation 2:1-3:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ...

1 John 5:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We love because he first loved us.

1 Peter 4:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

1 Peter 4:12-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

1 Peter 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

1 Peter 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

1 Peter 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:21-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Hebrews 12:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:36-38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Hebrews 11:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ...

2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

2 Thessalonians 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

2 Thessalonians 1:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

1 Thessalonians 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind

Philippians 2:5-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

Philippians 1:12-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Galatians 6:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

1 Corinthians 12:8-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

Romans 12:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Romans 12:17-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Romans 12:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...

Romans 11:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

Romans 10:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 8:35-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

Romans 8:1-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ...

Romans 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 3:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Acts 22:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,

Acts 16:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Acts 14:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,

Acts 11:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

Acts 9:4-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Acts 8:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Acts 7:59-60 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:54-60 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ...

Acts 7:51-53 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Acts 5:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

Suggest a Verse


Visit the Bible online to search for words if you don’t know the specific passage your’re looking for.