100 Bible Verses About Violence

Bible verses about Violence

Exploring the Bible's perspective on violence is crucial for cultivating a heart aligned with God's will. Scripture offers profound insights into the roots of violence, its devastating consequences, and God's unwavering commitment to peace and justice. Understanding these verses allows us to grapple with the complexities of human conflict, seek divine guidance in navigating difficult situations, and actively participate in building a world that reflects God's love and compassion. By studying these passages, we can learn to discern between righteous anger and destructive rage, promoting reconciliation and fostering a spirit of gentleness and understanding in our interactions with others.

Featured Verse

Genesis 34:26 (KJV)

And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.

Violence in the Bible: Exploring Key Verses

If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Proverbs 1:11KJV

And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

1 Kings 21:19KJV

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

Isaiah 14:6KJV

And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

Judges 9:45KJV

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

Judges 16:2KJV

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Psalms 22:16KJV

And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.

1 Samuel 27:9KJV

And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

1 Samuel 17:27KJV

Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Judges 4:21KJV

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Psalms 94:6KJV

And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 21:2KJV

And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

Isaiah 34:7KJV

And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Genesis 4:23KJV

For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

Proverbs 24:2KJV

And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.

1 Samuel 14:31KJV

Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

Deuteronomy 28:31KJV

And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.

1 Samuel 14:20KJV

And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.

2 Kings 10:25KJV

But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

Deuteronomy 13:9KJV

And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 24:17KJV

And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

Numbers 25:8KJV

Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

Judges 1:8KJV

The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Proverbs 10:11KJV

If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;

Proverbs 24:11KJV

And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

Judges 18:27KJV

It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.

Job 20:25KJV

For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night.

2 Samuel 4:7KJV

And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

Judges 9:39KJV

Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

Proverbs 6:14KJV

Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

Isaiah 34:3KJV

And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.

2 Samuel 4:6KJV

A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.

Proverbs 28:17KJV

And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.

1 Chronicles 7:21KJV

And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

1 Kings 2:29KJV

And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

1 Kings 21:13KJV

A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.

Proverbs 16:29KJV

Thou shalt not kill.

Deuteronomy 5:17KJV

An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

Proverbs 29:22KJV

The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

2 Samuel 22:3KJV

And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

Judges 9:21KJV

(For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom:)

1 Kings 11:16KJV

And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom hath slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left.

2 Samuel 13:30KJV

And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.

Genesis 34:26KJV

Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.

Psalms 68:30KJV

Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Isaiah 58:4KJV

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

Psalms 11:2KJV

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

Genesis 37:18KJV

But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

Genesis 19:4KJV

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

1 Samuel 31:1KJV

That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

Deuteronomy 19:10KJV

When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

Psalms 9:12KJV

And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh–gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

Judges 21:10KJV

He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.

Proverbs 17:19KJV

The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

Job 24:14KJV

And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

Exodus 21:18KJV

How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

2 Samuel 4:11KJV

Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

Judges 12:6KJV

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

Judges 15:8KJV

The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

Job 18:9KJV

How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Isaiah 1:21KJV

And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

Genesis 32:8KJV

Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.

Psalms 140:2KJV

Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

Psalms 64:2KJV

Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

Job 20:19KJV

Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:

Proverbs 22:24KJV

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Genesis 6:11KJV

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.

Psalms 58:6KJV

Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deuteronomy 27:25KJV

He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

Psalms 78:62KJV

We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

1 Samuel 30:14KJV

And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

Numbers 31:8KJV

O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.

Psalms 86:14KJV

For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

Jeremiah 9:21KJV

And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

Numbers 22:29KJV

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Isaiah 59:3KJV

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

2 Samuel 21:9KJV

And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.

Genesis 34:29KJV

Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

Psalms 74:18KJV

Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Proverbs 10:6KJV

And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.

Judges 3:13KJV

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

Psalms 37:8KJV

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

Psalms 58:2KJV

And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king.

2 Chronicles 28:7KJV

And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

Judges 9:52KJV

And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

1 Samuel 22:18KJV

Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

2 Kings 14:19KJV

I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Isaiah 50:6KJV

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

Psalms 63:10KJV

And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

1 Samuel 23:8KJV

For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.

2 Samuel 3:37KJV

And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.

2 Samuel 1:15KJV

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

2 Chronicles 20:23KJV

For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

Isaiah 15:9KJV

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

Jeremiah 6:25KJV

And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

1 Kings 18:28KJV

The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Proverbs 29:10KJV

And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

2 Samuel 13:29KJV

So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

2 Samuel 17:12KJV

Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.

Judges 19:24KJV

And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

Exodus 2:14KJV

The Bible offers a complex and multifaceted perspective on violence. While acknowledging its presence in a fallen world, scripture consistently points toward God's desire for peace, justice, and reconciliation. The verses explored highlight both the consequences of violence – pain, suffering, and separation from God – and the call to actively resist it. They challenge us to examine our own hearts for the seeds of anger and aggression, urging us toward compassion, forgiveness, and the pursuit of non-violent solutions whenever possible. Ultimately, these verses serve as a powerful reminder that true strength lies not in perpetuating cycles of violence but in embracing God's transformative love, striving to be peacemakers in a world desperately in need of healing and restoration, and relying on the Holy Spirit's guidance to respond to violence with wisdom, grace, and unwavering faith.