30 Bible Verses about Vengeance

And anyone who takes another's life is certainly to be put to death. And anyone wounding a beast and causing its death, will have to make payment for it: a life for a life. And if a man does damage to his neighbour, as he has done, so let it be done to him;read more.
Wound for wound, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever damage he has done, so let it be done to him. He who puts a beast to death will have to make payment for it; he who puts a man to death will himself be put to death. You are to have the same law for a man of another nation living among you as for an Israelite; for I am the Lord your God.

If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters. I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters. Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.

And see, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for the fact that I took off the skirt of your robe and did not put you to death is witness that I have no evil purpose, and I have done you no wrong, though you are waiting for my life to take it. May the Lord be judge between me and you, and may the Lord give me my rights against you, but my hand will never be lifted up against you. There is an old saying, From the evil-doer comes evil: but my hand will never be lifted up against you.read more.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? for whom are you searching? for a dead dog, an insect. So let the Lord be judge, and give a decision between me and you, and see and give support to my cause, and keep me from falling into your hands. Now when David had said these words to Saul, Saul said, Is this your voice, David, my son? And Saul was overcome with weeping.

And when David had gone a little way past the top of the slope, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came to him, with two asses on which were two hundred cakes of bread and a hundred stems of dry grapes and a hundred summer fruits and a skin of wine. And David said to Ziba, What is your reason for this? And Ziba said, The asses are for the use of the king's people, and the bread and the fruit are food for the young men; and the wine is for drink for those who are overcome by weariness in the waste land. And the king said, And where is your master's son? And Ziba said, He is still at Jerusalem: for he said, Today Israel will give back to me the kingdom of my father.read more.
Then the king said to Ziba, Truly everything which was Mephibosheth's is yours. And Ziba said, I give honour to my lord, may I have grace in your eyes, my lord, O king! And when King David came to Bahurim, a man of Saul's family named Shimei, the son of Gera, came out from there, calling curses after him. And he sent stones at David and at all the king's servants and at all the people and at all the men of war by his side, on the right hand and on the left. And Shimei said, with curses, Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, you good-for-nothing: The Lord has sent punishment on you for all the blood of the family of Saul, whose kingdom you have taken; and the Lord has given the kingdom to Absalom, your son: now you yourself are taken in your evil, because you are a man of blood. Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king, Is this dead dog to go on cursing my lord the king? let me go over and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Let him go on cursing, for the Lord has said, Put a curse on David, and who then may say, Why have you done so? And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, You see how my son, the offspring of my body, has made designs against my life: how much more then may this Benjamite do so? Let him be, and let him go on cursing; for the Lord has given him orders. It may be that the Lord will take note of my wrongs, and give me back good in answer to his cursing of me today. So David and his men went on their way: and Shimei went by the hillside parallel with them, cursing and sending stones and dust at him. And the king and his people came tired to Jordan, and took their rest there.

In the days of David they were short of food for three years, year after year; and David went before the Lord for directions. And the Lord said, On Saul and on his family there is blood, because he put the Gibeonites to death. Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives:) So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you? how am I to make up to you for your wrongs, so that you may give a blessing to the heritage of the Lord?read more.
And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of silver and gold between us and Saul or his family; and it is not in our power to put to death any man in Israel. And he said, Say, then, what am I to do for you? And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we were wasted, and who made designs against us to have us completely cut off from the land of Israel, Let seven men of his family be given up to us and we will put an end to them by hanging them before the Lord in Gibeon, on the hill of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them. But the king did not give up Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the Lord's oath made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Saul to whom Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he gave them up to the Gibeonites, and they put them to death, hanging them on the mountain before the Lord; all seven came to their end together in the first days of the grain-cutting, at the start of the cutting of the barley.

And news was given to David of what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, one of Saul's wives, had done. And David went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them away secretly from the public place of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had put them, hanging up the bodies there on the day when they put Saul to death in Gilboa: And he took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from that place; and they got together the bones of those who had been put to death by hanging.

And some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to David in his strong place. And David went out to them, and said to them, If you have come in peace to give me help, my heart will be united with yours; but if you have come to give me up to those who would take my life, though my hands are clean from wrongdoing, then may the God of our fathers see it and give you punishment.

If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him; (For I did not let my mouth give way to sin, in putting a curse on his life;)

Long life is in her right hand, and in her left are wealth and honour. Her ways are ways of delight, and all her goings are peace. She is a tree of life to all who take her in their hands, and happy is everyone who keeps her.read more.
The Lord by wisdom put in position the bases of the earth; by reason he put the heavens in their place.

Do not say, I will give punishment for evil: go on waiting for the Lord, and he will be your saviour.

Make strong the feeble hands, give support to the shaking knees. Say to those who are full of fear, Be strong and take heart: see, your God will give punishment; the reward of God will come; he himself will come to be your saviour.

But, O Lord of armies, judging in righteousness, testing the thoughts and the heart, let me see your punishment come on them: for I have put my cause before you.

For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.

You have knowledge that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say to you, Do not make use of force against an evil man; but to him who gives you a blow on the right side of your face let the left be turned. And if any man goes to law with you and takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe from him.read more.
And whoever makes you go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who comes with a request, and keep not your property from him who would for a time make use of it. You have knowledge that it was said, Have love for your neighbour, and hate for him who is against you: But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you; So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner. For if you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? do not the tax-farmers the same? And if you say, Good day, to your brothers only, what do you do more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same? Be then complete in righteousness, even as your Father in heaven is complete.

Then says Jesus to him, Put up your sword again into its place: for all those who take the sword will come to death by the sword. Does it not seem possible to you that if I make request to my Father he will even now send me an army of angels? But how then would the Writings come true, which say that so it has to be?

And he said to them, Wherever you go into a house, make that your resting-place till you go away. And whatever place will not take you in and will not give ear to you, when you go away, put off the dust from your feet as a witness against them.

But I say to you who give ear to me, Have love for those who are against you, do good to those who have hate for you, Give blessing to those who give you curses, say prayers for those who are cruel to you. If a man gives you a blow on one side of your face, then let the other side be turned to him; from him who takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe.read more.
Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners do the same. And if you let those have the use of your money, from whom you are hoping to get it back, what credit is it to you? even sinners do so to sinners, hoping to get back as much as they gave. But be loving to those who are against you and do them good, and give them your money, not giving up hope, and your reward will be great and you will be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to evil men, and to those who have hard hearts. Be full of pity, even as your Father is full of pity.

And why are you, in your hearts, unable to be judges of what is right? For if anyone has a cause at law against you, and you are going with him before the ruler, make an attempt, on the way, to come to an agreement with him, for if you do not, he may take you before the judge and the judge will give you up to the police, and they will put you in prison. I say to you, You will not come out of it till you have made payment to the very last farthing.

Now, about that time, Herod the king made cruel attacks on the Christians. And he put James, the brother of John, to death with the sword. And when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he went on to take Peter in addition. This was at the time of the feast of unleavened bread.read more.
And having taken him, he put him in prison, with four bands of armed men to keep watch over him; his purpose being to take him out to the people after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison: but the church made strong prayer to God for him. And when Herod was about to take him out, the same night Peter was sleeping in chains between two armed men, and the watchmen were keeping watch before the door of the prison. And a great light was seen shining in the room, and an angel of the Lord came to Peter and, touching him on his side so that he came out of his sleep, said, Get up quickly. And his chains came off his hands. Then the angel said, Put on your shoes and get ready to go. And he did so. And he said, Put your coat round you and come with me. And he went out after him; and he was not certain if what was done by the angel was a fact, for it seemed to him that he was seeing a vision. And when they had gone past the first and second watchmen they came to the iron door into the town, which came open by itself: and they went out and down one street; and then the angel went away. And when Peter came to his senses he said, Now, truly, I am certain that the Lord has sent his angel and taken me out of the hands of Herod, against all the hopes of the Jews. And when he became clear about this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John named Mark, where a number of them had come together for prayer.

Do not give evil for evil to any man. Let all your business be well ordered in the eyes of all men. As far as it is possible for you be at peace with all men. Do not give punishment for wrongs done to you, dear brothers, but give way to the wrath of God; for it is said in the holy Writings, Punishment is mine, I will give reward, says the Lord.read more.
But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head. Do not let evil overcome you, but overcome evil by good.

For it seems to me that God has put us the Apostles last of all, as men whose fate is death: for we are put on view to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are made to seem foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are feeble, but you are strong; you have glory, but we have shame. Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place;read more.
And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; 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.

How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints? Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things? Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?read more.
If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church? I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers? But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges. More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss? So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.

My brothers, do not be children in mind: in evil be as little children, but in mind be of full growth.

Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath;

So that you may be holy and gentle, children of God without sin in a twisted and foolish generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

For it is an act of righteousness on God's part to give trouble as their reward to those who are troubling you, And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire, To give punishment to those who have no knowledge of God, and to those who do not give ear to the good news of our Lord Jesus:read more.
Whose reward will be eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,

A man who has gone against the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the word of two or three witnesses: But will not the man by whom the Son of God has been crushed under foot, and the blood of the agreement with which he was washed clean has been taken as an unholy thing, and who has had no respect for the Spirit of grace, be judged bad enough for a very much worse punishment? For we have had experience of him who says, Punishment is mine, I will give reward. And again, The Lord will be judge of his people.read more.
We may well go in fear of falling into the hands of the living God.

You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry; For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

And when the fifth stamp was undone, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been put to death for the word of God, and for the witness which they kept. And they gave a great cry, saying, How long will it be, O Ruler, holy and true, before you take your place as judge and give punishment for our blood to those on the earth? And there was given to every one a white robe, and they were ordered to take their rest for a little time, till the number was complete of the other servants, their brothers, who would be put to death, even as they had been.