So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
- KJV Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
- NKJV Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
- NASB Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
- NLT So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers should not be surprised when the world hates them. Hostility from the world is to be expected.
Overview
Drawing on the Cain example, John tells his readers not to marvel if the world hates them, just as Cain hated Abel. The world's enmity toward the righteous is a recurring reality. Rather than being unsettled, believers can take such hatred as confirmation of their identity as God's children in a hostile world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- John 15:18–19If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
- John 17:14I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
- Luke 21:17And you will be hated by everyone because of My name.
- Jas 4:4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- 2 Tim 3:12Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
- Luke 6:22Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
- Mark 13:13You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- John 16:33I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
- John 7:7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.
- Eccl 5:8If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
- Matt 24:9Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
- Rom 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Matt 10:22You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- Acts 3:12And when Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you surprised by this? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
- John 3:7Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’
- Rev 17:7“Why are you so amazed?” said the angel. “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 3:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.