30 Bible Verses about Torture

The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the princes of Judah at Riblah. Then the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon and there he put him in prison [in a mill] until the day of his death.

and you will be groping at noon [in broad daylight], just as the blind grope in the darkness, and nothing you do will prosper; but you will only be oppressed and exploited and robbed continually, with no one to save you. You will be pledged to marry a wife, but another man will be intimate with her [before you]; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it; your donkey will be torn away from you, and it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. read more.
Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do. A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all the products of your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and exploited and crushed continually. You shall be driven mad by the sight of the things you see. The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with sore boils that you cannot heal, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them he punished the men of Succoth.

Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with [two] bronze chains; and he was forced to be a grinder [of grain into flour at the mill] in the prison.

“How long will you torment and exasperate me
And crush me with words?

For there they who took us captive demanded of us a song with words,
And our tormentors [who made a mockery of us demanded] amusement, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

Anyone who is found will be pierced through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

Their children also will be smashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be looted
And their wives ravished.
Listen carefully, I will put the Medes [in motion] against them,
Who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and therefore cannot be bribed].
read more.

Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon];
They will take no pity on the fruit of the womb,
Their eyes will not look with compassion on the children.

“I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
Who have said to you, ‘Lie down so that we may walk over you.’
You have even made your back like the ground
And like the street for those who walk over it.”

They ravished the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.

Princes were hung by their hands;
Elders were not respected.

Young men worked at the grinding mill,
And boys fell [staggering] under loads of wood.

They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters and they killed her with the sword. So she became notorious among women, and they executed judgments on her.

And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (jailers) until he paid all that he owed.

The crowd also joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and ordered that Paul and Silas be beaten with rods. After striking them many times [with the rods], they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. He, having received such a [strict] command, threw them into the inner prison (dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks [in an agonizing position].

Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life; and others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging [amid torture], and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned [to death], they were sawn in two, they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith], they were put to death by the sword; they went about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated read more.
(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.

They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment and cause them extreme pain for five months; and their torment was like the torment from a scorpion when it stings a man.

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking and ridiculing Him [and treating Him with contempt] and beating Him.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and they gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on Him [as a king’s robe]. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and put a reed in His right hand [as a scepter]. Kneeling before Him, they ridiculed Him, saying, “Hail (rejoice), King of the Jews!” read more.
They spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him repeatedly on the head. After they finished ridiculing Him, they stripped Him of the scarlet robe and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

The soldiers led Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the entire [Roman] battalion [of 600 soldiers]. They dressed Him up in [a ranking Roman officer’s robe of] purple, and after twisting [together] a crown of thorns, they placed it on Him; and they began saluting and mocking Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” read more.
They kept beating Him on the head with a reed and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing in [mock] homage to Him. After they had mocked Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him. And they led Him out [of the city] to crucify Him.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe around Him; and they kept coming up to Him, saying [mockingly], “Hail, King of the Jews [Good health! Peace! Long life to you, King of the Jews]!” And they slapped Him in the face.

There they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

And when they had crucified Him, they divided His clothes among them by casting lots.

And they crucified Him, and divided up His clothes among themselves, casting lots for them to see who should take what.

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

And they screamed out, “What business do we have [in common] with each other, Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the appointed time [of judgment]?”

and screaming with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have in common with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God [swear to me], do not torment me!”

Seeing Jesus, he cried out [with a terrible voice from the depths of his throat] and fell down before Him [in dread and terror], and shouted loudly, “What business do we have [in common] with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me [before the appointed time of judgment]!”

And the devil who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and burning brimstone (sulfur), where the beast (Antichrist) and false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.

Then these [unbelieving people] will go away into eternal (unending) punishment, but those who are righteous and in right standing with God [will go, by His remarkable grace] into eternal (unending) life.”

In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise).

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night—those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

To the degree that she glorified herself and reveled and gloated in her sensuality [living deliciously and luxuriously], to that same degree impose on her torment and anguish, and mourning and grief; for in her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as a queen [on a throne] and I am not a widow, and will never, ever see mourning or experience grief.’