| Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. | In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. |
| God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. | Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
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| That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. |
| If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. | If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. |
| What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. | 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. |
| Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? | Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? |
| God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. | Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. |
| But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! | But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. |
| “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.” | “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” |
| My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. | My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. |
| Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. | Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. |
| Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. | Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. |
| Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. | Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. |
| I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ | I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ |
