25 Bible Verses about Rivalry

Jeroboam's son Nadab became king over Israel during the second year of the reign of King Asa over Judah. He reigned over Israel for two years, practicing what the LORD considered to be evil, living the way his father did, committing sins, and leading Israel to sin. So Ahijah's son Baasha from the household of Issachar conspired against him and killed Nadab at Gibbethon in Philistia while Nadab and all of Israel were attacking Gibbethon. read more.
Baasha killed him during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah and took Nadab's place as king. As soon as he was established as king, he killed everyone in the household of Jeroboam. He left not even one single person alive. He destroyed them completely, just as the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because he led Israel into sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to become angry. Now the rest of Nadab's accomplishments, including everything he undertook, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?

The army of Israel was divided into two parties: half of the army were loyal to Ginath's son Tibni and wanted to make him king, and half were loyal to Omri. But the army that was loyal to Omri was victorious over Ginath's son Tibni. Tibni later died and Omri became king.

Don't you know what my predecessors have done to all the other people in other lands? Were the gods of the people who lived in those lands able to deliver their countries out of my control? What god, out of all the gods of those nations that my predecessors utterly destroyed, has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors? Now therefore, don't let Hezekiah lie to you or mislead you like this. Don't believe him, because no god of any nation has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors. So how much less will your God deliver you from me?'"read more.
King Sennacherib's spokesmen said even worse things against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: "Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven't delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won't deliver his people from me!" His spokesmen shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city. In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings. Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet were praying about this and crying out to heaven. So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords. That's how the LORD delivered Hezekiah, as well as those who lived in Jerusalem, from Assyria's King Sennacherib and all his forces, and provided for all of their needs.

When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah: "Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: "Don't let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? read more.
Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?'"

Hezekiah received the letters from the messengers, and read them. Then he went up to the LORD's Temple and spread the letters in front of the LORD. Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: "O LORD of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. read more.
Extend your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and look! Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. It is true, LORD, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries, and have thrown their gods into the fire but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them. So now, LORD our God, save us from his oppressive hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God." Then Amoz's son Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, to whom you prayed concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: ""The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem she tosses her head behind you as you flee. Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, "With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt." ""Didn't you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I've made it happen that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ""I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings and how you've become enraged at me. Your insolence has reached my ears, so I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I'll make you turn back on the road by which you came. "And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this. "Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "He won't enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. By the same way that he came, he will return; he won't enter this city,' declares the LORD, "because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!'" After this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah's army awakened in the morning there were all the dead bodies! King Sennacherib broke camp, retreated, returned home to Nineveh, and remained there. Later, while he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with swords and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Sennacherib's son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished. Esau told Jacob, "Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I'm starving." (That's how Esau got his nickname "Edom".) But Jacob responded, "Sell me your birthright. Do it now."read more.
"Look! I'm about to die," Esau replied. "What good is this birthright to me?" But Jacob insisted, "Swear it by an oath right now." So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.

So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, "The time to mourn for my father is very near. That's when I'm going to kill my brother Jacob."

Now the LORD had closed her womb. Her rival would provoke her severely so that she complained loudly because the LORD had closed her womb. Elkanah would do this year after year, as often as Hannah went up to the house of the LORD. Likewise, Peninnah would provoke her, and Hannah would cry and would not eat.

As the women sang and played, they said, "Saul has struck down his thousands but David his ten thousands." Saul was very angry and he did not like what the women sang. He told himself, "They have attributed tens of thousands to David, but to me they have attributed thousands. What else can he have but the kingdom?" From then on Saul kept his eye on David.

As long as Jesse's son lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established! Now send someone and bring David to me. He's a dead man!"

Sometime later, Absalom acquired a chariot equipped with horses and recruited 50 men to accompany him. Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, "You're from what city?" If he replied, "Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes," Absalom would respond, "Look, your claims are valid and defensible, but nobody will listen to you on behalf of the king. read more.
Who will appoint me to be a judge in the land? When anyone arrived to file a legal complaint or other cause, he could approach me for justice and I would settle it!" Furthermore, if a man approached him to bow down in front of him, he would put out his hand, grab him, and embrace him. By doing all of this to anyone who came to the king for a hearing, Absalom stole the loyalty of the men of Israel. And so it was that forty years after Israel had demanded a king, Absalom asked the king, "Please let me go to Hebron so I can pay my vow that I made to the LORD, because when I was living at Geshur in Aram, your servant made this solemn promise: "If the LORD ever brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'" The king replied to him, "Go in peace!" So Absalom got up and left for Hebron. But Absalom sent agents throughout all of the tribes of Israel, telling them, "When you hear the sound of the battle trumpet, you're to announce that Absalom is king in Hebron." Meanwhile, 200 men left Jerusalem with Absalom. They had been invited to go along, but were innocent, not knowing anything about what was happening. Absalom also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from his home town of Giloh while Absalom was presenting the sacrificial offerings. And so the conspiracy widened, because the common people increasingly sided with Absalom. Then a messenger arrived to inform David, "The loyalties of the men of Israel have shifted to Absalom."

Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!"

"You are not to marry a woman and then have sexual relations with her sister as a rival when your wife is still alive.

Later, an argument started among the disciples as to which of them might be the greatest. But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he told them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, because the one who is least among all of you is the one who is greatest."

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom from heaven?" Calling a little child forward, he had him stand among them. Then he said, "I tell all of you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom from heaven. read more.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom from heaven,

But they kept silent, because they had argued on the road with one another about who was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve, and told them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and had him stand among them. He took him in his arms and told them, read more.
"Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons. She bowed down in front of him to ask him for a favor. He asked her, "What do you want?" She told him, "Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine will sit on your right and on your left." Jesus replied, "You don't realize what you're asking. Can you drink from the cup that I'm going to drink from?" They told him, "We can."read more.
He told them, "You will indeed drink from my cup. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right hand or at my left. These positions have already been prepared for others by my Father." When the ten heard this, they became furious with the two brothers.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and told him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you." He asked them, "What do you want me to do for you?" They asked him, "Let us sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left."read more.
But Jesus told them, "You don't realize what you're asking. Can you drink from the cup that I'm going to drink from or be baptized with the baptism with which I'm going to be baptized?" They told him, "We can." Jesus told them, "You will drink from the cup that I'm going to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I'm going to be baptized. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right or my left. Those positions have already been prepared for others." When the ten other disciples heard this, they began to be furious with James and John.

"But you are not to be called "Rabbi,' because you have only one teacher, and all of you are brothers. And don't call anyone on earth "Father,' because you have only one Father, the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called "Teachers,' because you have only one teacher, the Messiah! read more.
The person who is greatest among you must be your servant.

That's because you are still worldly. As long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, you are worldly and living by human standards, aren't you? For when one person says, "I follow Paul," and another person says, "I follow Apollos," you're following your own human nature, aren't you?

This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to the Messiah." Is the Messiah divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? You weren't baptized in Paul's name, were you?

For all of you are God's children through faith in the Messiah Jesus. Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female.

Jesus called his disciples and told them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers among the unbelievers lord it over them, and their superiors act like tyrants over them. That's not the way it should be among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to everyone, read more.
because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people."

But Jesus called the disciples and said, "You know that the rulers of the unbelievers lord it over them and their superiors act like tyrants over them. That's not the way it should be among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. read more.
That's the way it is with the Son of Man. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people."

Some are preaching the Messiah because of jealousy and dissension, while others do so because of their good will. The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel. The former proclaim the Messiah because they are selfishly ambitious and insincere, thinking that they will stir up trouble for me during my imprisonment.read more.
But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.