57 Bible Verses about Persecution, Forms Of

But the high priest and those who were with him (the Sadducees) were full of envy, And they took the Apostles and put them in the common prison.

For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy. Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.

And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.

And Saul was very angry and this saying was unpleasing to him; and he said, They have given David credit for tens of thousands, and to me for only thousands: what more is there for him but the kingdom? And from that day Saul was looking with envy on David.

They were full of envy against Moses among the tents, and against Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.

Darius was pleased to put over the kingdom a hundred and twenty captains, who were to be all through the kingdom; And over them were three chief rulers, of whom Daniel was one; and the captains were to be responsible to the chief rulers, so that the king might undergo no loss. Then this Daniel did his work better than the chief rulers and the captains, because there was a special spirit in him; and it was the king's purpose to put him over all the kingdom.read more.
Then the chief rulers and the captains were looking for some cause for putting Daniel in the wrong in connection with the kingdom, but they were unable to put forward any wrongdoing or error against him; because he was true, and no error or wrong was to be seen in him. Then these men said, We will only get a reason for attacking Daniel in connection with the law of his God.

For he saw that for envy they had given him up.

But when the Jews saw such a great number of people, they were full of envy and said evil words against Paul's preaching.

For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing.

And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a chance to put him to death, but they went in fear of the people.

Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.

And when Saul saw how wisely he did, he was in fear of him.

And when it came to the ears of Herod the king, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And about that time a great outcry took place about the Way. For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen; Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.read more.
And you see, for it has come to your ears, that not only at Ephesus, but almost all through Asia, this Paul has been teaching numbers of people and turning them away, saying that those are not gods who are made by men's hands: And there is danger, not only that our trade may be damaged in the opinion of men, but that the holy place of the great goddess Diana may be no longer honoured, and that she to whom all Asia and the world give worship, will be put down from her high position.

Not being of the Evil One like Cain, who put his brother to death. And why did he put him to death? Because his works were evil and his brother's works were good.

And after a time, Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth. And Abel gave an offering of the young lambs of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering; But in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry and his face became sad.read more.
And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your face sad? If you do well, will you not have honour? and if you do wrong, sin is waiting at the door, desiring to have you, but do not let it be your master. And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I have no love for him, for he is a prophet of evil to me and not of good. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, but I have no love for him, because he has never been a prophet of good to me, but only of evil: he is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

It is not possible for you to be hated by the world; but I am hated by it, because I give witness that what it does is evil.

And get two good-for-nothing persons to come before him and give witness that he has been cursing God and the king. Then take him out and have him stoned to death.

We give news to the king that the Jews who came from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are building up again that uncontrolled and evil town; the walls are complete and they are joining up the bases. The king may be certain that when the building of this town and its walls is complete, they will give no tax or payment in goods or forced payments, and in the end it will be a cause of loss to the kings.

False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.

For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing (there is fear on every side): they say, Come, let us give witness against him; all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment.

Then Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos has made designs against you among the people of Israel: the land is troubled by his words.

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.

And there was much discussion about him among the mass of the people. Some said, He is a good man; but others said, No, he is giving people false ideas.

Then they got men to say, He has said evil against Moses and against God, in our hearing.

And they have had news of you, how you have been teaching all the Jews among the Gentiles to give up the law of Moses, and not to give circumcision to their children, and not to keep the old rules.

For this man, in our opinion, is a cause of trouble, a maker of attacks on the government among Jews through all the empire, and a chief mover in the society of the Nazarenes:

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and false words: under his tongue are evil purposes and dark thoughts.

Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;

Now if you are ready, on hearing the sound of the horn, pipe, harp, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all sorts of instruments, to go down on your faces in worship before the image which I have made, it is well: but if you will not give worship, that same hour you will be put into a burning and flaming fire; and what god is there who will be able to take you out of my hands?

They said this because of their fear of the Jews: for the Jews had come to an agreement that if any man said that Jesus was the Christ he would be put out of the Synagogue.

But so that it may not go farther among the people, let us put them in fear of punishment if they say anything in future in this name.

Now, Sanballat, hearing that we were building the wall, was very angry, and in his wrath made sport of the Jews. And in the hearing of his countrymen and the army of Samaria he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they make themselves strong? will they make offerings? will they get the work done in a day? will they make the stones which have been burned come again out of the dust? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Such is their building that if a fox goes up it, their stone wall will be broken down.

The days of punishment, the days of reward are come; Israel will be put to shame; the prophet is foolish, the man who has the spirit is off his head, because of your great sin.

When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.

Let us then go out to him outside the circle of the tents, taking his shame on ourselves.

I have knowledge of your troubles and how poor you are (but you have true wealth), and the evil words of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a Synagogue of Satan.

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

We are certain that God gave his word to Moses: but as for this man, we have no knowledge where he comes from.

However, a number even of the rulers had belief in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not say so openly for fear that they might be shut out from the Synagogue:

They will put you out of the Synagogues: yes, the time is coming when whoever puts you to death will have the belief that he is doing God's pleasure.

Who will come between us and the love of Christ? Will trouble, or pain, or cruel acts, or the need of food or of clothing, or danger, or the sword?

So they took Jeremiah and put him into the water-hole of Malchiah, the king's son, in the place of the armed watchmen: and they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the hole there was no water, but wet earth: and Jeremiah went down into the wet earth.

But be on the watch against men: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins, and in their Synagogues they will give you blows;

But take care: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins; and in Synagogues you will be whipped; and you will be taken before rulers and kings because of me, for a sign to them.

Truly I say to you, When you were young, you made yourself ready and went wherever you had a desire to go: but when you are old, you will put out your hands and another will make you ready, and you will be taken where you have no desire to go. Now this he said, pointing out the sort of death by which he would give God glory. And after saying this, he said to him, Come after me.

And he seemed to them to be right: and they sent for the Apostles, and, after having them whipped and giving them orders to give no teaching in the name of Jesus, they let them go.

But Paul said to them, They have given us who are Romans a public whipping without judging us, and have put us in prison. Will they now send us out secretly? no, truly, let them come themselves and take us out.

Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times the ship I was in came to destruction at sea, a night and a day I have been in the water;

From this time on let no man be a trouble to me; because my body is marked with the marks of Jesus.

And others were tested by being laughed at or by blows, and even with chains and prisons: They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked, Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.read more.
And not one of these got the good things of the agreement, though they all had a good record through faith,

Though I had said violent words against God, and done cruel acts, causing great trouble: but I was given mercy, because I did it without knowledge, not having faith;

And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifting up my eyes to heaven, got back my reason, and, blessing the Most High, I gave praise and honour to him who is living for ever, whose rule is an eternal rule and whose kingdom goes on from generation to generation. And all the people of the earth are as nothing: he does his pleasure in the army of heaven and among the people of the earth: and no one is able to keep back his hand, or say to him, What are you doing?

Now, about that time, Herod the king made cruel attacks on the Christians.

Only it came to their ears that he who at one time was cruel to us is now preaching the faith which before had been attacked by him;