100 Bible Verses about Vindictiveness

Romans 12:19 ESV / 527 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.”

Deuteronomy 32:35 ESV / 285 helpful votes

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’

Psalm 137:9 ESV / 275 helpful votes

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 275 helpful votes

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 255 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. ...

Luke 9:54 ESV / 255 helpful votes

And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

Romans 12:17-20 ESV / 231 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.”

John 3:16 ESV / 229 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.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 228 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Romans 13:8-10 ESV / 226 helpful votes

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

1 Peter 3:9 ESV / 222 helpful votes

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Matthew 5:38-42 ESV / 219 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 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. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

1 Peter 3:8-9 ESV / 218 helpful votes

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Acts 23:12 ESV / 212 helpful votes

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

John 18:10 ESV / 209 helpful votes

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

Mark 6:19 ESV / 209 helpful votes

And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not,

Esther 3:6 ESV / 209 helpful votes

But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Romans 12:17-21 ESV / 208 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.

Joshua 6:21 ESV / 207 helpful votes

Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 206 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

2 Chronicles 16:10 ESV / 203 helpful votes

Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

Exodus 34:6 ESV / 201 helpful votes

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Psalm 69:4 ESV / 200 helpful votes

More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 197 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Revelation 1:2 ESV / 196 helpful votes

Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

1 Corinthians 8:12 ESV / 193 helpful votes

Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Romans 3:10-18 ESV / 191 helpful votes

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” ...

John 3:16-21 ESV / 190 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. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ...

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 190 helpful votes

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

Revelation 9:10 ESV / 189 helpful votes

They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.

Revelation 21:22 ESV / 188 helpful votes

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

Revelation 19:20 ESV / 188 helpful votes

And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

John 3:1-36 ESV / 188 helpful votes

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ...

Revelation 17:18 ESV / 187 helpful votes

And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Revelation 13:14 ESV / 187 helpful votes

And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

Revelation 11:12 ESV / 187 helpful votes

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.

Revelation 7:8 ESV / 187 helpful votes

12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

Revelation 5:6 ESV / 187 helpful votes

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Revelation 3:4 ESV / 187 helpful votes

Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Psalm 1:1-3:8 ESV / 187 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ...

Exodus 25:1-40 ESV / 187 helpful votes

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, ...

Matthew 1:1-17 ESV / 186 helpful votes

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ...

Nahum 1:2 ESV / 183 helpful votes

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.

Ephesians 4:31 ESV / 180 helpful votes

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

Romans 12:14 ESV / 179 helpful votes

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

Psalm 109:1-31 ESV / 173 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. ...

Psalm 137:1-9 ESV / 169 helpful votes

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! ...

Hebrews 10:30 ESV / 167 helpful votes

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

Psalm 139:1-24 ESV / 164 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ...

Psalm 35:1-28 ESV / 162 helpful votes

Of David. Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! ...

Leviticus 24:20 ESV / 162 helpful votes

Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

Psalm 35:12 ESV / 161 helpful votes

They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.

2 Chronicles 18:26 ESV / 161 helpful votes

And say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’”

Deuteronomy 19:21 ESV / 161 helpful votes

Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Exodus 21:24 ESV / 161 helpful votes

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

2 Kings 6:21 ESV / 158 helpful votes

As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”

Proverbs 20:22 ESV / 155 helpful votes

Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.

Colossians 3:22-24 ESV / 149 helpful votes

Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

1 Peter 3:16 ESV / 141 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.

Psalm 94:1 ESV / 140 helpful votes

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!

Hosea 13:16 ESV / 139 helpful votes

Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Romans 12:17 ESV / 138 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:7 ESV / 137 helpful votes

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 136 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

John 15:18-19 ESV / 135 helpful votes

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 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 6:14-15 ESV / 134 helpful votes

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Lamentations 3:1-66 ESV / 129 helpful votes

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; ...

Proverbs 24:29 ESV / 124 helpful votes

Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

Romans 11:22 ESV / 120 helpful votes

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Isaiah 50:6 ESV / 120 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.

Luke 6:28 ESV / 118 helpful votes

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Philemon 1:6 ESV / 115 helpful votes

And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Psalm 130:1 ESV / 114 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

Matthew 25:46 ESV / 110 helpful votes

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 107 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV / 105 helpful votes

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

John 8:1-59 ESV / 98 helpful votes

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ...

Zephaniah 2:1-15 ESV / 97 helpful votes

Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. ...

Jeremiah 9:17 ESV / 97 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;

Acts 1:1-26 ESV / 96 helpful votes

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ...

Lamentations 1:16 ESV / 96 helpful votes

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Mark 11:25 ESV / 95 helpful votes

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Jonah 2:4 ESV / 95 helpful votes

Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’

Daniel 5:1-31 ESV / 95 helpful votes

King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. ...

Lamentations 2:11 ESV / 95 helpful votes

My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.

Psalm 139:21 ESV / 95 helpful votes

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

Jeremiah 11:20 ESV / 94 helpful votes

But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

Leviticus 5:1-19 ESV / 93 helpful votes

“If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity; or if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become unclean, and he realizes his guilt; or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and realizes his guilt; or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, ...

Jeremiah 11:2 ESV / 92 helpful votes

“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Psalm 69:2 ESV / 91 helpful votes

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

Psalm 35:23 ESV / 91 helpful votes

Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!

Genesis 31:1-55 ESV / 91 helpful votes

Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. ...

Revelation 20:10 ESV / 87 helpful votes

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Romans 8:28 ESV / 79 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.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Lamentations 2:21 ESV / 73 helpful votes

In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.

1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 65 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.

Romans 12:19-21 ESV / 65 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.” 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.

Joel 2:12 ESV / 65 helpful votes

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

Colossians 3:13 ESV / 62 helpful votes

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

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