21 Bible Verses About Haters and Hatred

John 15:18

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Reflection: Jesus says this to his disciples shortly before his arrest in John 18. The next verse gives the reason: “you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” He adds that whoever hates him hates his Father as well (John 15:23), and closes the passage with a line from the Law: “They hated me without reason” (John 15:25).

Psalm 69:4

“Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.”

Reflection: The psalm is headed “Of David” and opens with a man sinking in deep water, worn out from calling for help. He does not claim to be sinless, since the next verse says, “my guilt is not hidden from you”; what he claims is that this hatred is unearned. Verse 9 names the cause: “zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”

Luke 6:22

“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

Reflection: Looking at his disciples (Luke 6:20), Jesus lists the forms hatred takes: exclusion, insult, and rejecting a person’s name as evil. The next verse tells them to “leap for joy,” because their reward is in heaven and “that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” A few lines later the blessing is turned around: “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you” (Luke 6:26).

2 Timothy 3:12

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Reflection: Paul writes to Timothy, who knew the persecutions Paul endured in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra (2 Timothy 3:11). In the same verse Paul adds, “Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” The next verse sets the other side beside it: “evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse.”

1 Peter 4:12-13

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

Reflection: Peter tells his readers not to treat their trial as strange. The following verses draw a line between two kinds of suffering: “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed,” but no one should suffer “as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler” (1 Peter 4:14-15). Verse 16 adds, “if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed.”

Psalm 41:9

“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.”

Reflection: David is ill in this psalm, and his enemies ask, “When will he die and his name perish?” (Psalm 41:5). One visitor speaks falsely at the bedside and then spreads slander outside, and even a close friend who ate at his table has turned against him. The next verse asks God to raise him up “that I may repay them.” At the last supper Jesus quotes this line, “He who shared my bread has turned against me,” of the disciple who would betray him (John 13:18).

Luke 6:27-28

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Reflection: Four kinds of hostility receive four answers: enemies are loved, those who hate receive good, those who curse are blessed, and those who mistreat are prayed for. Jesus gives the reason a few verses later: “you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35).

Matthew 5:44

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Reflection: In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus quotes a saying his hearers knew, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Matthew 5:43), and sets this command against it. Matthew 5:45 gives the pattern: the Father “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.” Loving only those who love back, Jesus says, is what tax collectors already do (Matthew 5:46).

1 Peter 2:23

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

Reflection: Peter writes this to slaves, telling them to submit “not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh” (1 Peter 2:18), and holds up Christ’s suffering as the example they are called to follow (1 Peter 2:21). Christ answered neither insult nor suffering with threats. The verse ends with what he did instead: he “entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

Romans 12:19

“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

Reflection: Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” so the verse gives up personal revenge without denying that wrongs will be answered. The verse before sets the limit of what is asked, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone,” and the chapter ends, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Proverbs 25:21-22

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”

Reflection: Paul quotes this proverb in Romans 12:20, right after forbidding revenge, and stops before its last line, “and the LORD will reward you.” The command is practical: food and water for an enemy who needs them. Neither passage explains the burning coals.

Genesis 50:20

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Reflection: Joseph’s brothers hated him because their father loved him more, and “they hated him all the more” because of his dreams (Genesis 37:4-8). They sold him to traders, and years later, after their father died, they feared he would pay them back. Joseph wept, asked “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19), and promised to provide for them and their children.

Psalm 37:7-8

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.”

Reflection: The psalm opens, “Do not fret because of those who are evil,” and says they will wither like grass (Psalm 37:1-2). Psalm 37:7-8 sets waiting on the LORD against fretting over those who succeed by wicked schemes, and says fretting “leads only to evil.” The next verse gives the outcome David expects: “those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.”

Psalm 23:5

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

Reflection: The shepherd psalm moves in this verse from the pasture to a host’s table. The enemies are present; God does not remove them before the meal but feeds his guest in front of them. The verse before says the same of danger: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

Psalm 27:1

“The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?”

Reflection: The next two verses show who David has in mind: “When the wicked advance against me to devour me,” and “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.” The psalm places his safety in God’s house, where “he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent” and lift his head “above the enemies who surround me” (Psalm 27:5-6).

Micah 7:8

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.”

Reflection: Micah describes a land where “a man’s enemies are the members of his own household” (Micah 7:6), and the speaker answers an enemy who gloats. The speaker admits the fall was deserved: “Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD’s wrath, until he pleads my case” (Micah 7:9). The enemy had taunted, “Where is the LORD your God?” (Micah 7:10).

Isaiah 54:17

“‘no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the LORD.”

Reflection: God speaks to an “afflicted city, lashed by storms” (Isaiah 54:11), promising to rebuild it. The verses before say that any attack “will not be my doing” and that God made both the blacksmith who forges the weapon and the destroyer (Isaiah 54:15-16). The promise covers words as well as weapons, since the city will “refute every tongue that accuses you.”

Proverbs 16:7

“When the LORD takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them.”

Reflection: The proverb credits the LORD with making the peace, and ties it to a way of life the LORD takes pleasure in.

Leviticus 19:17-18

“Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

Reflection: These verses belong to the chapter that opens, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Hatred kept “in your heart” is set beside a command to speak: “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.” Revenge and grudges are ruled out in the same breath, and the passage ends with “love your neighbor as yourself,” which Jesus quotes as the second commandment in Matthew 22:39.

Proverbs 10:12

“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”

Reflection: The verse before contrasts the mouth of the righteous, “a fountain of life,” with the mouth of the wicked, which “conceals violence.” Hatred keeps a quarrel going, while love covers over all wrongs.

1 John 3:15

“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”

Reflection: John places this warning two verses after “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). His example is Cain, who murdered his brother “because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:12). The passage then defines love by its opposite act: “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16).