'Hate' in the Bible

Isaac said to them, “Why have you [people] come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph carries a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?”

Furthermore, you shall select from all the people competent men who [reverently] fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; you shall place these over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may most certainly rebuke your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.

I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.

Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,“Rise up, O Lord!Let Your enemies be scattered;And let those who hate You flee before You.”

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but repays those who hate Him to their faces, by destroying them; He will not hesitate with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

The Lord will take away from you all sickness; and He will not subject you to any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will impose them on all [those] who hate you.

The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who have persecuted you.

If I sharpen the lightning of My sword,And My hand takes hold of judgment,I will render vengeance on My adversaries,And I will repay those who hate Me.

“O Lord, bless Levi’s substance (ability),And accept and take pleasure in the work of his hands;Crush and shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,And of those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from the house of my father? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?”

So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me, you do not love me; you have asked my countrymen a riddle, and have not told [the answer] to me.” And he said to her, “Listen, I have not told my father or my mother [either], so [why] should I tell you?”

For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have shown today that commanders and servants are nothing to you; for today I know that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died today, then you would be pleased.

“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in retreat],And I destroyed those who hated me.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he never prophesies good news for me, but only evil.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say that [Micaiah only tells bad news].”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies [anything] good for me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so [perhaps this time it will be different].”

Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate the Lord and in doing so bring wrath from the Lord on yourself?

“Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,And the tents of the wicked will be no longer.”

Have mercy on me and be gracious to me, O Lord;See how I am afflicted by those who hate me,You who lift me up from the gates of death,

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me [in defeat],And I silenced and destroyed those who hated me.

Your hand will reach out and defeat all your enemies;Your right hand will reach those who hate you.

Look upon my enemies, for they are many;They hate me with cruel and violent hatred.

I hate the company of evildoers,And will not sit with the wicked.

Evil will cause the death of the wicked,And those who hate the righteous will be held guilty and will be condemned.

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;Nor let those who hate me without cause wink their eye [maliciously].

But my [numerous] enemies are vigorous and strong,And those who hate me without cause are many.

All who hate me whisper together about me;Against me they devise my hurt [imagining the worst for me], saying,

But You have saved us from our enemies,And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.

You make us turn back from the enemy,And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

You have loved righteousness (virtue, morality, justice) and hated wickedness;Therefore God, your God, has anointed YouAbove Your companions with the oil of jubilation.

“For you hate instruction and disciplineAnd cast My words behind you [discarding them].

Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered;Let those who hate Him flee before Him.

Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head;Those who would destroy me are powerful, being my enemies wrongfully;I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink;Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.

For behold, Your enemies are in tumult,And those who hate You have raised their heads [in hatred of You].

Show me a sign of [Your] goodwill,That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,Because You, O Lord, helped and comforted me.

“I will crush his adversaries before him,And strike those who hate him.

You who love the Lord, hate evil;He protects the souls of His godly ones (believers),He rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes.I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path];It will not grasp hold of me.

He turned the heart [of the Egyptians] to hate His people,To deal craftily with His servants.

The Lord is on my side, He is among those who help me;Therefore I will look [in triumph] on those who hate me.

From Your precepts I get understanding;Therefore I hate every false way.

Samekh.I hate those who are double-minded,But I love and treasure Your law.

Therefore I esteem as right all Your precepts concerning everything;I hate every false way.

I hate and detest falsehood,But I love Your law.

May all who hate ZionBe put to shame and turned backward [in defeat].

Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

I hate them with perfect and utmost hatred;They have become my enemies.

“How long, O naive ones [you who are easily misled], will you love being simple-minded and undiscerning?How long will scoffers [who ridicule and deride] delight in scoffing,How long will fools [who obstinately mock truth] hate knowledge?

“The [reverent] fear and worshipful awe of the Lord includes the hatred of evil;Pride and arrogance and the evil way,And the perverted mouth, I hate.

“But he who fails to find me or sins against me injures himself;All those who hate me love and court death.”

Do not correct a scoffer [who foolishly ridicules and takes no responsibility for his error] or he will hate you;Correct a wise man [who learns from his error], and he will love you.

Let your foot seldom be in your neighbor’s house,Or he will become tired of you and hate you.

The bloodthirsty hate the blameless [because of his integrity],But the upright are concerned for his life.

A time to love and a time to hate;A time for war and a time for peace.

For I, the Lord, love justice;I hate robbery with a burnt offering.And I will faithfully reward them,And make an everlasting covenant with them.

Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble [with awe-filled reverence] at His word:“Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My Name’s sake,Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’But they will be put to shame.

Yet I sent to you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this shamefully vile thing which I hate.”

Behold now [listen very carefully], I have stretched out My hand against you, reduced your portion, and handed you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your infamous behavior.

For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will place you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned away in disgust.

“Then Daniel, whose [Babylonian] name was Belteshazzar, was appalled and speechless for a while [because he was deeply concerned about the destiny of the king], and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, ‘Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation frighten you.’ Belteshazzar answered, ‘My lord, may the dream be [meant] for those who hate you and its message for your enemies!

They hate the one who reprimands [the unrighteous] in the [court held at the city] gate [regarding him as unreasonable and rejecting his reprimand],And they detest him who speaks [the truth] with integrity and honesty.

Hate evil and love good,And establish justice in the [court of the city] gate.Perhaps the Lord God of hostsWill be gracious to the remnant of Joseph [that is, those who remain after God’s judgment].

“I hate, I despise and reject your [sacred] feasts,And I do not take delight in your solemn assemblies.

The Lord God has sworn [an oath] by Himself—the Lord God of hosts, says:“I loathe and reject the [self-centered] arrogance of Jacob (Israel),And I hate his palaces and citadels;Therefore, I shall hand over the [idolatrous] city [of Samaria] with all that it contains [to the Assyrian invaders].”

“You who hate good and love evil,Who tear the skin off my peopleAnd their flesh from their bones;

And let none of you devise or even imagine evil in your heart against another, and do not love lying or half-truths; for all these things I hate,’ declares the Lord.”

“For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong and violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore keep watch on your spirit, so that you do not deal treacherously [with your wife].”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor (fellow man) and hate your enemy.’

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].

Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people hate you, and exclude you [from their fellowship], and insult you, and scorn your name as evil because of [your association with] the Son of Man.

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God]—he cannot be My disciple.

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand devotedly by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon [that is, your earthly possessions or anything else you trust in and rely on instead of God].”

The world cannot hate you [since you are part of it], but it does hate Me because I denounce it and testify that its deeds are evil.

Love is to be sincere and active [the real thing—without guile and hypocrisy]. Hate what is evil [detest all ungodliness, do not tolerate wickedness]; hold on tightly to what is good.

You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].

Yet you have this [to your credit], that you hate the works and corrupt teachings of the Nicolaitans [that mislead and delude the people], which I also hate.

You also have some who in the same way are holding to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked [stripped of her power and influence], and will eat her flesh and completely consume her with fire.