What Does the Bible Say About Rage?

Psalm 37:8 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

James 1:19-20 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Colossians 3:8 ESV / 14 helpful votes

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 12:21 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Proverbs 16:32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 15:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

James 1:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Ephesians 4:31 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Proverbs 14:29 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 14:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.

James 2:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 1:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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;

Ephesians 4:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Romans 12:19 ESV / 4 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.”

Psalm 78:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.

Galatians 5:19-26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ...

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 12:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.

Proverbs 4:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Psalm 104:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 103:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 37:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 2:1-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ...

Ephesians 6:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Romans 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

Romans 8:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 1:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Romans 1:24-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Acts 9:1-9 ESV / 2 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. ...

John 9:1-41 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ...

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 20:45-47 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Luke 15:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 10:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

Luke 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

Matthew 16:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 5:39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Isaiah 46:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Isaiah 16:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We have heard of the pride of Moab— how proud he is!— of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.

Proverbs 29:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

Proverbs 29:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

Proverbs 25:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Psalm 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

2 Chronicles 33:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Leviticus 18:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not murder.

Genesis 19:1-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ...

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 19:15 ESV / 1 helpful vote

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Hebrews 10:19-20 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 1 helpful vote

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 1 helpful vote

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 1 helpful vote

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 1:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

63 Bible Verses about Rage