What does the Bible say about revenge?
"We know the God who said, 'I am the God who judges people. I will pay them back.' Scripture also says, 'The Lord will judge his people'" (Hebrews 10:30).
"The Lord is a God who punishes. Since you are the one who punishes, come and show your anger" (Psalm 94:1).
"But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you" (Matthew 5:44).
The Bible says we should not seek out revenge.When you get mad at someone, do you want to seek revenge and hurt them back? The Bible calls this vengeance. It means to try to hurt someone else because they hurt you. For example, if your classmate tells a lie about you to your friend which hurts your feelings, you may want to tell a lie about your classmate as a way to hurt his feelings too.
The Bible tells us not to seek out revenge on others (Romans 12:19). God tells us that vengeance is His (Deuteronomy 32:35). God’s vengeance is not like our vengeance though. God never takes vengeance on a person for no reason. His vengeance comes from 100% pure motives. When we seek out revenge on our own, it’s from wrong motives. We don’t need to take revenge on others. Instead, we should let God do what He knows is best.
Jesus tells us to love our enemies. This means that even if someone hurts you, you should not do the same to them. We need to pray and love those who hurt us. Sounds strange, right? As Christians, we need to forgive them and leave room for God’s revenge.
