44 Bible Verses about Persecution, Nature Of

And I looked, and lo! a pale coloured horse, and one sat on it, whose name was Death, and the grave followed after him: and power was given to them to kill the fourth part of the earth with the sword, and with famine, and with death, and with the wild beasts of the earth.

And the figures of the locusts were like horses equipped for war; and upon their heads there were as crowns, like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as breastplates of iron: and the sound of their wings was as the rumbling of chariots of many horses rushing to battle.read more.
And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and they had power to hurt men five months.

Then entered Satan into Judas called Iscariot, though he was of the number of the twelve. And he went and conversed with the chief priests and the captains, by what means he could betray him unto them.

Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, prowleth around, seeking whom he may devour:

Fear nothing from the things which thou shalt suffer: lo! the devil will cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have a ten day's tribulation: be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before you.

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

But these husbandmen said to each other, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be our own.

Therefore sought they the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the sabbath, but called God his own Father, setting himself on an equality with God.

If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have elected you out of the world, for this very cause the world hateth you.

I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

strengthening the souls of the brethren, exhorting them to abide firm in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must pass into the kingdom of heaven.

For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus: for ye suffered the same things also yourselves from your own countrymen, as they too have of the Jews; who both murdered the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are in opposition to all mankind;

BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God! therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

But take ye heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to their sanhedrims, and to the synagogues; ye shall be beaten with rods, and be set before kings and governors for my name's sake, for a testimony unto them.

But be on your guard against men: for they will deliver you up to the sanhedrim, and scourge you in their synagogues.

NOW at that time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to treat cruelly certain persons belonging to the church. And he slew James the brother of John with a sword. And seeing how agreeable this was to the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)

For this cause do we also give thanks to God unceasingly, because when ye received the word reported by us from God, ye received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which worketh also effectually in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus: for ye suffered the same things also yourselves from your own countrymen, as they too have of the Jews; who both murdered the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are in opposition to all mankind;read more.
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up the measure of their iniquities always: but wrath is coming upon them to the extremity.

Therefore, behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood which hath been poured out upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come on this generation.read more.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest those who were sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children to me, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not?

For they have been in truth collected together against thy holy Son Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, even Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen, and the people of Israel, to do all that thy hand and thy counsel predestined should come to pass. And as to the present transactions, Lord, look upon their threatnings: and grant thy servants power with all boldness to speak thy word,

Then arose the high-priest, and all those who were connected with him, (which was the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with zeal, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

so much so that I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women.

And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and authority was given to him over every tribe, and tongue, and nation.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.

And the enemies of a man shall be those of his own house.

Then brother shall surrender brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.

And when his relations heard it, they went out to restrain him, for they said, He is transported beyond all bounds.

But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so is it now.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.

We are afflicted on every side, yet not reduced to extremities; under difficulties, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the death pangs of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.read more.
For we who are yet alive are continually delivered up to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Wherefore death indeed is working in us, but life in you.

Are they the ministers of Christ? (I speak foolishly) I am above [them]: in labours more abundantly, in stripes exceedingly more, in prisons more frequently, in the most immediate danger of death often. Of the Jews five times I have received forty stripes save one. Thrice I have been scourged with rods, once I have been stoned, thrice I have suffered shipwreck, a whole night and day I have passed in the deep;read more.
in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own countrymen, in perils from the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the desert, in perils on the sea, in perils among false brethren;

And what more shall I say: for the time would fail me if I should make a narration concerning Gideon, and Barac, and Sampson, and Jephtha, and David, and Samuel, and the prophets: who by faith vanquished kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, extinguished the force of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, they were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in battle, routed the armies of aliens.read more.
Women received by a resurrection their dead: but others were tortured, not accepting a release; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trials of mockeries and whippings, yea and farther of chains and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they experienced the severest trials, they were slain by the edge of the sword: they went about wrapped in skins of sheep and goats, destitute of all things, pressed down with afflictions, suffering all kind of misery; of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered up and down in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caverns of the earth.

And all indeed who will live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

hath not really root in himself, but is merely temporary: and when tribulation or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately he is stumbled.

Then Jesus in reply said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man who hath left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel's, who shall not receive an hundred-fold more now, at this very time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution, and in the world to come life everlasting.

For when we were with you, we told you before that we were about to suffer tribulation; as also it came to pass, and ye know.

For nation shall be roused up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. Now all these things are the beginning of the travailing pangs. Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.read more.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another.

Let no man deceive you in any way: because that cannot be till the apostasy come first, and the man of sin appear, the son of perdition, who opposeth himself against, and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is the object of adoration; so that he in the temple of God sitteth as God, exhibiting himself in public that he is God.

And to each of them were given white robes, and it was told them that they should wait yet a little longer space, until the number of their fellow-servants and their brethren, who should be slain as well as they, should be completed.

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the sabbath-day.

who shall not receive an hundred-fold more now, at this very time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution, and in the world to come life everlasting.

But before all these things, they will lay hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and to prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.

Remember the word which I spake unto you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also; if they have observed my words, they will observe your's also.

and falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Then said he, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou art persecuting: It is difficult for thee to kick against the goads.