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 ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
• Jas 1:2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
• Col 3:24Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
• 1 Pet 4:13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
• Col 1:24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
• Rom 5:3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
• Ruth 2:12The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
• Ps 58:11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
• Isa 3:10Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
• Prov 11:18The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
• 2 Chr 36:16But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
• Matt 16:27For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
• Heb 11:6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
• 1 Th 2:15Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
• Luke 6:35But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
• 1 Kgs 18:13Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
• Phil 2:17Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
• Matt 6:16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
• 2 Cor 4:17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
• Acts 5:41And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
• 1 Kgs 22:26–27And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son;
• 1 Cor 3:8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
• Gen 15:1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
• Acts 7:51–52Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
• Neh 9:26Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
• Matt 21:34–38And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
• Luke 11:47–51Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
• 1 Kgs 18:4For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
• Jer 26:21–23And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
• Ps 19:11Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
• Luke 13:34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
• Matt 10:41–42He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
• Matt 6:1–2Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
• Jer 2:30In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
• 2 Chr 16:10Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.
• 1 Kgs 21:20And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.
• Acts 16:25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
• 1 Kgs 19:10–14And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
• Matt 23:31–37Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
• Jer 26:8Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

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