16 Bible Verses about Martyrdom, Reasons For

and whoso doth not fall down and do obeisance, in that hour he is cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.'

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego have answered, yea, they are saying to the king Nebuchadnezzar, 'We have no need concerning this matter to answer thee. Lo, it is; our God whom we are serving, is able to deliver us from a burning fiery furnace; and from thy hand, O king, He doth deliver. And lo -- not! be it known to thee, O king, that thy gods we are not serving, and to the golden image thou hast raised up we do no obeisance.'

Taken counsel have all the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors, to establish a royal statute, and to strengthen an interdict, that any who seeketh a petition from any god and man until thirty days, save of thee, O king, is cast into a den of lions.

And ships of Chittim have come in against him, and he hath been pained, and hath turned back, and hath been insolent toward the holy covenant, and hath wrought, and turned back, and he understandeth concerning those forsaking the holy covenant. And strong ones out of him stand up, and have polluted the sanctuary, the stronghold, and have turned aside the continual sacrifice, and appointed the desolating abomination. And those acting wickedly against the covenant, he defileth by flatteries; and the people knowing their God are strong, and have wrought.read more.
And the teachers of the people give understanding to many; and they have stumbled by sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil -- days.

and there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, that also the image of the beast may speak, and that it may cause as many as shall not bow before the image of the beast, that they may be killed.

'And they are disobedient, and rebel against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their back, and Thy prophets they have slain, who testified against them, to bring them back unto Thee, and they do great despisings,

and said to his servants, 'This is John the Baptist, he did rise from the dead, and because of this the mighty energies are working in him.' For Herod having laid hold on John, did bind him, and did put him in prison, because of Herodias his brother Philip's wife, for John was saying to him, 'It is not lawful to thee to have her,'read more.
and, willing to kill him, he feared the multitude, because as a prophet they were holding him. But the birthday of Herod being kept, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst, and did please Herod, whereupon with an oath he professed to give her whatever she might ask. And she having been instigated by her mother -- 'Give me (says she) here upon a plate the head of John the Baptist; and the king was grieved, but because of the oaths and of those reclining with him, he commanded it to be given; and having sent, he beheaded John in the prison, and his head was brought upon a plate, and was given to the damsel, and she brought it nigh to her mother. And his disciples having come, took up the body, and buried it, and having come, they told Jesus,

For Herod himself, having sent forth, did lay hold on John, and bound him in the prison, because of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he married her, for John said to Herod -- 'It is not lawful to thee to have the wife of thy brother;' and Herodias was having a quarrel with him, and was willing to kill him, and was not able,read more.
for Herod was fearing John, knowing him a man righteous and holy, and was keeping watch over him, and having heard him, was doing many things, and hearing him gladly. And a seasonable day having come, when Herod on his birthday was making a supper to his great men, and to the chiefs of thousands, and to the first men of Galilee, and the daughter of that Herodias having come in, and having danced, and having pleased Herod and those reclining (at meat) with him, the king said to the damsel, 'Ask of me whatever thou wilt, and I will give to thee,' and he sware to her -- 'Whatever thou mayest ask me, I will give to thee -- unto the half of my kingdom.' And she, having gone forth, said to her mother, 'What shall I ask for myself?' and she said, 'The head of John the Baptist;' and having come in immediately with haste unto the king, she asked, saying, 'I will that thou mayest give me presently, upon a plate, the head of John the Baptist.' And the king -- made very sorrowful -- because of the oaths and of those reclining (at meat) with him, would not put her away, and immediately the king having sent a guardsman, did command his head to be brought, and he having gone, beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head upon a plate, and did give it to the damsel, and the damsel did give it to her mother; and having heard, his disciples came and took up his corpse, and laid it in the tomb.

Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and in ears! ye do always the Holy Spirit resist; as your fathers -- also ye; which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed those who declared before about the coming of the Righteous One, of whom now ye betrayers and murderers have become, who received the law by arrangement of messengers, and did not keep it.'read more.
And hearing these things, they were cut to the hearts, and did gnash the teeth at him; and being full of the Holy Spirit, having looked stedfastly to the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and he said, 'Lo, I see the heavens having been opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.' And they, having cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and did rush with one accord upon him, and having cast him forth outside of the city, they were stoning him -- and the witnesses did put down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul --

'And when they may finish their testimony, the beast that is coming up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them, and their dead bodies are upon the broad-place of the great city (that is called spiritually Sodom, and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified,) and they shall behold -- they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations -- their dead bodies three days and a half, and their dead bodies they shall not suffer to be put into tombs,read more.
and those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them, and shall make merry, and gifts they shall send to one another, because these -- the two prophets -- did torment those dwelling upon the land.'

then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of my name;

'And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child, and children shall rise up against parents, and shall put them to death, and ye shall be hated by all because of my name, but he who hath endured to the end -- he shall be saved.

'And ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and brothers, and kindred, and friends, and they shall put of you to death; and ye shall be hated by all because of my name --

not as Cain -- of the evil one he was, and he did slay his brother, and wherefore did he slay him? because his works were evil, and those of his brother righteous.

and upon her forehead was a name written: 'Secret, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Whores, and the Abominations of the earth.'

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony that they held,