'Persecute' in the Bible

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;

The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!"

but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now;