What Does the Bible Say About Persecution?

John 15:18 ESV / 87 helpful votes

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 72 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 58 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 3:16 ESV / 48 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 3:17 ESV / 47 helpful votes

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

1 Peter 4:12-14 ESV / 41 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.

1 Peter 3:14 ESV / 30 helpful votes

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

1 John 3:13 ESV / 29 helpful votes

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

Philippians 1:12-14 ESV / 29 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.

Hebrews 12:3 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Luke 6:22 ESV / 19 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!

2 Corinthians 4:8-12 ESV / 14 helpful votes

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Revelation 2:10 ESV / 11 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 4:19 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 4:4 ESV / 11 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;

Romans 8:35-37 ESV / 10 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.

Jeremiah 15:10 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

Proverbs 29:27 ESV / 9 helpful votes

An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

Revelation 20:4 ESV / 8 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.

Revelation 2:13 ESV / 8 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.

Matthew 23:35 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 3:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

John 15:19 ESV / 7 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.

Matthew 20:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

Revelation 7:13-17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

1 John 3:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 Peter 4:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 12:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Romans 12:17-21 ESV / 6 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.

Acts 8:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Acts 8:1 ESV / 6 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.

Acts 7:52 ESV / 6 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,

Habakkuk 1:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Revelation 6:9-11 ESV / 5 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 2:8-10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “‘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. 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.

Revelation 2:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 4:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

Hebrews 13:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.

2 Timothy 4:17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

Philippians 1:28 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV / 5 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.

1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Amos 5:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.

Proverbs 29:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright.

Revelation 7:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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.

Hebrews 13:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

Hebrews 12:2 ESV / 4 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.

Romans 8:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Romans 8:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Mark 15:34 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 13:11-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Mark 13:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.

Matthew 27:39-44 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ...

Matthew 26:14-16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Micah 5:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

Isaiah 29:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

Psalm 23:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

James 5:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Hebrews 11:25-27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Hebrews 10:32-34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

2 Timothy 4:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

2 Timothy 2:9-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;

2 Timothy 1:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

2 Thessalonians 1:4 ESV / 3 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 / 3 helpful votes

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

1 Thessalonians 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.

Colossians 1:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Galatians 4:29 ESV / 3 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.

Galatians 1:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

2 Corinthians 6:8-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

2 Corinthians 6:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

Acts 28:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

Acts 13:27-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

Acts 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He killed James the brother of John with the sword,

Acts 12:1-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. ...

Acts 11:19-21 ESV / 3 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. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

Acts 9:1-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 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 6:9-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ...

Acts 6:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 5:40-42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 5:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:18-42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ...

Acts 4:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

Acts 4:16-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:3-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ...

Acts 3:13-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Acts 2:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

John 20:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 19:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

John 19:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”

John 18:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

John 18:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

John 18:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

John 18:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”

John 17:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

John 16:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

John 16:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

John 15:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

John 15:20 ESV / 3 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.

John 14:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

John 12:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

John 12:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,

John 11:57 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

John 10:39 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

John 10:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

John 9:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

John 9:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)

John 8:59 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

John 8:52 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

John 8:48 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

John 8:40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.

John 8:37 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

John 7:32 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

John 7:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

John 7:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”

John 7:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

John 7:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

John 7:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

John 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Luke 23:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

Luke 23:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

Luke 22:63-65 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

Luke 22:53 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

Luke 22:52 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?

Luke 22:2-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

Luke 21:12-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. ...

Luke 20:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Luke 19:47 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him,

Luke 19:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

Luke 13:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

Luke 12:50 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

Luke 11:54 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Luke 11:53 ESV / 3 helpful votes

As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things,

Luke 11:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”

Luke 7:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Luke 6:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Luke 6:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

Luke 6:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Luke 4:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

Luke 4:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

Mark 16:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Mark 15:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

Mark 15:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”

Mark 14:65 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.

Mark 14:48 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?

Mark 14:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,

Mark 12:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.

Mark 11:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

Mark 9:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Mark 3:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

Mark 3:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Mark 3:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Matthew 27:25-30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ...

Matthew 26:67 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,

Matthew 26:59 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death,

Matthew 26:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Matthew 26:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

Matthew 24:8-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

Matthew 23:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

Matthew 22:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words.

Matthew 21:36 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

Matthew 21:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Matthew 20:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 16:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

Matthew 12:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Matthew 10:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 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.

Matthew 10:16-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 5:10-12 ESV / 3 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.

Daniel 6:1-28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” ...

Daniel 3:8-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” ...

Lamentations 1:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

Jeremiah 50:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

Jeremiah 38:1-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, “Thus says the Lord: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” ...

Jeremiah 36:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

Jeremiah 33:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard:

Jeremiah 26:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

Jeremiah 26:11-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.” Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you.

Jeremiah 20:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

Jeremiah 20:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.

Jeremiah 18:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

Jeremiah 17:15-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!” I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face. Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!

Jeremiah 15:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.

Jeremiah 11:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”

Isaiah 59:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Isaiah 53:7-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:2-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 51:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

Isaiah 51:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,

Isaiah 50:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

Isaiah 49:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 29:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

Isaiah 26:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.

Psalm 129:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

Psalm 129:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say—

Psalm 124:1-8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. Of David. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. ...

Psalm 119:161 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

200 Bible Verses about Persecution