18 Bible Verses about Cowardice

Peter, meanwhile, was sitting outside in the courtyard; and a maidservant came up to him, and exclaimed: "Why, you were with Jesus the Galilean!" But Peter denied it before them all. "I do not know what you mean," he replied. When he had gone out into the gateway, another maid saw him, and said to those who were there: "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth!" read more.
Again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man!" But soon afterwards those who were standing by came up and said to Peter: "You also are certainly one of them; why, your very way of speaking proves it!" Then Peter began to swear, with most solemn imprecations: "I do not know the man." At that moment a cock crowed;

While Peter was in the court-yard down below, one of the High Priest's maidservants came up; And, seeing Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him, and exclaimed: "Why, you were with Jesus, the Nazarene!" But Peter denied it. "I do not know or understand what you mean," he replied. Then he went out into the porch; read more.
And there the maidservant, on seeing him, began to say again to the by-standers: "This is one of them!" But Peter again denied it. Soon afterwards the bystanders again said to him: "You certainly are one of them; why you are a Galilean!" But he began to swear with the most solemn imprecations: "I do not know the man you are speaking about." At that moment, for the second time, a cock crowed; and Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said to him-- 'Before a cock has crowed twice, you will disown me three times'; and, as he thought of it, he began to weep.

Those who had taken Jesus prisoner took him away into the house of the High Priest. Peter followed at a distance. But, when they had lit a fire in the center of the court-yard and had all sat down there, Peter seated himself in the middle of them. Presently a maidservant saw him sitting near the blaze of the fire. Fixing her eyes on him, she said: "Why, this man was one of his companions!" read more.
But Peter denied it. "I do not know him," he replied. A little while afterwards some one else--a man--saw him and said: "Why, you are one of them!" "No," Peter said, "I am not." About an hour later another man declared positively: "This man also was certainly with him. Why, he is a Galilean!" But Peter said: "I do not know what you are speaking about." Instantly, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed.

While Peter stood outside by the door. Presently the other disciple--the one well-known to the High Priest--went out and spoke to the portress, and brought Peter in. So the maidservant said to Peter: "Are not you also one of this man's disciples?" "No, I am not," he said.

Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing there, warming himself; so they said to him: "Are not you also one of his disciples?" Peter denied it. "No, I am not," he said.

Three hours after midnight, however, Jesus came towards the disciples, walking on the water.

When they had rowed three or four miles, they caught sight of him walking on the water and approaching the boat, and they were frightened.

For all of them saw him, and were terrified. But Jesus at once spoke to them. "Courage!" he said, "it is I; do not be afraid!"

"Why are you so timid?" he said. "O men of little faith!" Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm followed.

"Where is your faith?" he exclaimed. But in great awe and amazement they said to one another: "Who can this be, that he commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him?"

Jesus was in the stern asleep upon the cushion; and the disciples roused him and cried: "Teacher! is it nothing to you that we are lost?"

The whole of this occurred in fulfillment of the Prophetic Scriptures. Then the disciples all forsook him and fled.

This made Pilate anxious to release him; but the Jews shouted: "If you release that man, you are no friend of the Emperor! Any one who makes himself out to be a King is setting himself against the Emperor!" On hearing what they said, Pilate brought Jesus out, and took his seat upon the Bench at a place called 'The Stone Pavement'--in Hebrew 'Gabbatha.' It was the Passover Preparation Day, and about noon. Then he said to the Jews: "Here is your King!" read more.
At that the people shouted: "Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!" "What! shall I crucify your King?" exclaimed Pilate. "We have no King but the Emperor," replied the Chief Priests; Whereupon Pilate gave Jesus up to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus;

Yet for all this, even among the leading men there were many who came to believe in Jesus; but, on account of the Pharisees, they did not acknowledge it, for fear that they should be expelled from their Synagogues; For they valued honor from men more than honor from God.

But, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face; for he stood self-condemned. Before certain persons came from James, he had been in the habit of eating with the Gentile converts; but, when they came, he began to withdraw and hold aloof, for fear of offending those who still held to circumcision. The rest of the Jewish converts were guilty of the same hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led away by it. read more.
But, when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the Truth of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, who were born a Jew, adopt Gentile customs, instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs?"

After this, Joseph of Ramah, a disciple of Jesus--but a secret one, owing to his fear of the Jews--begged Pilate's permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him leave; so Joseph went and removed the body.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a leading man among the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him: "Rabbi, we know that you are a Teacher come from God; for no one could give such signs as you are giving, unless God were with him."

His parents spoke in this way because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that, if any one should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, he should be expelled from their synagogues.

Roused from his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, the Governor drew his sword intending to kill himself, in the belief that the prisoners had escaped.

The whole of this occurred in fulfillment of the Prophetic Scriptures. Then the disciples all forsook him and fled.

And, in their terror of him, the men on guard trembled violently and became like dead men.