61 Bible Verses about Persecution, Attitudes To

They had almost put an end to me on earth; but I did not give up your orders.

And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation.

And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly;

So that we ourselves take pride in you in the churches of God for your untroubled mind and your faith in all the troubles and sorrows which you are going through;

Be as calm in your waiting; let your hearts be strong: because the coming of the Lord is near.

For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us,

Lastly, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power. Take up God's instruments of war, so that you may be able to keep your position against all the deceits of the Evil One. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens.read more.
For this reason take up all the arms of God, so that you may be able to be strong in the evil day, and, having done all, to keep your place. Take your place, then, having your body clothed with the true word, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness; Be ready with the good news of peace as shoes on your feet; And most of all, using faith as a cover to keep off all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take salvation for your head-dress and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints, And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news, For which I am a representative in chains, and that I may say without fear the things which it is right for me to say.

Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus.

Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith, in the knowledge that your brothers who are in the world undergo the same troubles.

And you have the power of waiting, and have undergone trouble because of my name, without weariness.

Being of good behaviour among the Gentiles; so that though they say now that you are evil-doers, they may see your good works and give glory to God when he comes to be their judge.

But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;

Do not give punishment for wrongs done to you, dear brothers, but give way to the wrath of God; for it is said in the holy Writings, Punishment is mine, I will give reward, says the Lord. But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head.

Because it is God's pleasure that foolish and narrow-minded men may be put to shame by your good behaviour:

Being conscious that you have done no wrong; so that those who say evil things about your good way of life as Christians may be put to shame.

And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope: And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Happy are you when men give you a bad name, and are cruel to you, and say all evil things against you falsely, because of me. Be glad and full of joy; for great is your reward in heaven: for so were the prophets attacked who were before you.

Happy are you, when men have hate for you, and put you away from among them and say angry words to you, turning away in disgust at your name, because of the Son of man. Be glad in that day, and be lifted up for joy, for your reward in heaven will be great: for their fathers did these same things to the prophets.

So they went away from the Sanhedrin, happy to undergo shame for the Name.

And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped. And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely: And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet.read more.
But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;

Take part in the joy of those who are glad, and in the grief of those who are sorrowing.

Now I have joy in my pain because of you, and in my flesh I undergo whatever is still needed to make the sorrows of Christ complete, for the salvation of his body, the church;

You have cause for great joy in this, though it may have been necessary for you to be troubled for a little time, being tested in all sorts of ways,

Dear brothers, do not be surprised, as if it was something strange, if your faith is tested as by fire:

It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit. They are new every morning; great is your good faith.

He made me free from my strong hater, and from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I. They came on me in the day of my trouble; but the Lord was my support. He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me.

The Lord is good, a strong place in the day of trouble; and he has knowledge of those who take him for their safe cover. But like water overflowing he will take them away; he will put an end to those who come up against him, driving his haters into the dark.

I am of the opinion that there is no comparison between the pain of this present time and the glory which we will see in the future.

But you took as your example my teaching, behaviour, purpose, and faith; my long waiting, my love, my quiet undergoing of trouble; My punishments and pain; the things which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; the cruel attacks made on me: and the Lord made me free from them all.

So that we say with a good heart, The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear: what is man able to do to me?

Because you have kept my word in quiet strength, I will keep you from the hour of testing which is coming on all the world, to put to the test those who are on earth.

Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.

When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.

Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world.

We are cruelly attacked, but not without hope; we are made low, but we are not without help;

With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints,

Be my judge, O Lord my God, in your righteousness; do not let them be glad over me.

But as for me, I am looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my salvation: the ears of my God will be open to me. Do not be glad because of my sorrow, O my hater: after my fall I will be lifted up; when I am seated in the dark, the Lord will be a light to me.

Give blessing to those who give you curses, say prayers for those who are cruel to you.

And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it? I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth?

But the end of all things is near: so be serious in your behaviour and keep on the watch with prayer;

For his rule will go on till he has put all those who are against him under his feet.

For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ: By whom this poor body of ours will be changed into the image of the body of his glory, in the measure of the working by which he is able to put all things under himself.

For it is an act of righteousness on God's part to give trouble as their reward to those who are troubling you, And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire, To give punishment to those who have no knowledge of God, and to those who do not give ear to the good news of our Lord Jesus:

And at the sounding of the seventh angel there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he will have rule for ever and ever.

Further, I give orders as to what you are to do for the responsible men of the Jews in connection with the building of this house of God: that from the king's wealth, that is, from the taxes got together in the land over the river, the money needed is to be given to these men readily, so that their work may not be stopped.

When the Lord made a change in Zion's fate, we were like men in a dream.

It is my order that in all the kingdom of which I am ruler, men are to be shaking with fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, unchanging for ever, and his kingdom is one which will never come to destruction, his rule will go on to the end.

Overturning the power of kingdoms; and I will send destruction on the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; by me war-carriages will be overturned with those who are in them; and the horses and the horsemen will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. In that day, says the Lord of armies, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you as a jewelled ring: for I have taken you to be mine, says the Lord of armies.

And for which I undergo these things: but I have no feeling of shame. For I have knowledge of him in whom I have faith, and I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have given into his care till that day.

Have no fear of the things which you will have to undergo: see, the Evil One will send some of you into prison, so that you may be put to the test; and you will have great trouble for ten days. Be true till death, and I will give you the crown of life.

And one of the rulers made answer, saying to me, These who have on white robes, who are they, and where did they come from? And I said to him, My lord, you have knowledge. And he said to me, These are they who came through the great testing, and their robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. This is why they are before the high seat of God; and they are his servants day and night in his house: and he who is seated on the high seat will be a tent over them.read more.
They will never be in need of food or drink: and they will never again be troubled by the burning heat of the sun: For the Lamb who is on the high seat will be their keeper and their guide to fountains of living water: and God will make glad their eyes for ever.

And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witness; and loving not their lives they freely gave themselves up to death.

My God, my God, why are you turned away from me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my crying? O my God, I make my cry in the day, and you give no answer; and in the night, and have no rest. But you are holy, O you who are seated among the praises of Israel.read more.
Our fathers had faith in you: they had faith and you were their saviour. They sent up their cry to you and were made free: they put their faith in you and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man; cursed by men, and looked down on by the people. I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say, He put his faith in the Lord; let the Lord be his saviour now: let the Lord be his saviour, because he had delight in him. But it was you who took care of me from the day of my birth: you gave me faith even from my mother's breasts. I was in your hands even before my birth; you are my God from the time when I was in my mother's body. Be not far from me, for trouble is near; there is no one to give help. A great herd of oxen is round me: I am shut in by the strong oxen of Bashan. I saw their mouths wide open, like lions crying after food. I am flowing away like water, and all my bones are out of place: my heart is like wax, it has become soft in my body. My throat is dry like a broken vessel; my tongue is fixed to the roof of my mouth, and the dust of death is on my lips. Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet. I am able to see all my bones; their looks are fixed on me: They make a division of my robes among them, by the decision of chance they take my clothing.

I was offering my back to those who gave me blows, and my face to those who were pulling out my hair: I did not keep my face covered from marks of shame.

Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word. They took away from him help and right, and who gave a thought to his fate? for he was cut off from the land of the living: he came to his death for the sin of my people. And they put his body into the earth with sinners, and his last resting-place was with the evil-doers, though he had done no wrong, and no deceit was in his mouth.read more.
And the Lord was pleased ... see a seed, long life, ... will do well in his hand. ... ... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself. For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

Then he let Barabbas go free: but after having Jesus whipped, he gave him up to be put to death on the cross. Then the ruler's armed men took Jesus into the open square, and got all their band together. And they took off his clothing, and put on him a red robe.read more.
And they made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and put a rod in his right hand, and they went down on their knees before him, and made sport of him, saying, Long life to the King of the Jews. And they put shame on him, and gave him blows on the head with the rod. And when they had made sport of him, they took the robe off him, and put his clothing on him, and took him away to put him on the cross.

And Pilate, desiring to do what was pleasing to the people, let Barabbas go free, and gave up Jesus, when he had been whipped, to be put to death on the cross. And the men of the army took him away into the square in front of the building which is the Praetorium, and they got together all the band. And they put a purple robe on him, and twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him;read more.
And, as if honouring him, they said, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows on the head with a stick and put shame on him and, going down on their knees, gave him worship. And when they had made sport of him, they took the purple robe off him and put his clothing on him. And they took him out to put him to death on the cross.

What credit is it if, when you have done evil, you take your punishment quietly? but if you are given punishment for doing right, and take it quietly, this is pleasing to God. This is God's purpose for you: because Jesus himself underwent punishment for you, giving you an example, so that you might go in his footsteps: Who did no evil, and there was no deceit in his mouth:read more.
To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness:

But you are happy if you undergo pain because of righteousness; have no part in their fear and do not be troubled; But give honour to Christ in your hearts as your Lord; and be ready at any time when you are questioned about the hope which is in you, to give an answer in the fear of the Lord and without pride; Being conscious that you have done no wrong; so that those who say evil things about your good way of life as Christians may be put to shame.read more.
Because if it is God's purpose for you to undergo pain, it is better to do so for well-doing than for evil-doing.

But be glad that you are given a part in the pains of Christ; so that at the revelation of his glory you may have great joy. If men say evil things of you because of the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you.