Matthew 5:12

Believers should rejoice in persecution because their heavenly reward is great, like the prophets before them. It transforms suffering into occasion for joy and hope.

Cross-references · 40

• Luke 6:23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.
• Jas 1:2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
• Col 3:24because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
• 1 Pet 4:13But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.
• Col 1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
• Rom 5:3Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
• Ruth 2:12May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”
• Ps 58:11Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
• Isa 3:10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
• Prov 11:18The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.
• 2 Chr 36:16But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
• Matt 16:27For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
• Heb 11:6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
• 1 Th 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
• Luke 6:35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
• 1 Kgs 18:13Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.
• Phil 2:17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
• Matt 6:16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• 2 Cor 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
• Acts 5:41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
• 1 Kgs 22:26–27And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,
• 1 Cor 3:8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
• Gen 15:1After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
• Acts 7:51–52You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
• Neh 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
• Matt 21:34–38When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.
• Luke 11:47–51Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
• 1 Kgs 18:4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
• Jer 26:21–23King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah found out about it, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.
• Ps 19:11By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.
• Luke 13:34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
• Matt 10:41–42Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
• Matt 6:1–2“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
• Jer 2:30“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
• 2 Chr 16:10Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.
• 1 Kgs 21:20When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.
• Acts 16:25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
• 1 Kgs 19:10–14“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
• Matt 23:31–37So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
• Jer 26:8and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!

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