martyrs

¹²And all those who willingly live the piety in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

¹⁴If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you will be blessed, because that which is of the honor, glory, and power of God, and that which is of his Spirit, rests upon you. ¹⁵But let none of you suffer for being a murderer, or a thief, or a slanderer, or one who covets what belongs to another. ¹⁶But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, he should not be ashamed. Instead, he should glorify God in that name.

¹⁰Blessed are those who endure persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁹And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw, under the altar, the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony that they held. ¹⁰And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying: “How long, O Holy and True Lord, will you not judge and not vindicate our blood against those who dwell upon the earth?”

¹⁸If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you.

²⁸And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But instead fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for one small coin? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father. ³⁰For even the hairs of your head have all been numbered. ³¹Therefore, do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. ³²Therefore, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father, who is in heaven. ³³But whoever will have denied me before men, I also will deny before my Father, who is in heaven.

¹⁰Because of this, I am pleased in my infirmity: in reproaches, in difficulties, in persecutions, in distresses, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am powerful.

¹⁰Blessed are those who endure persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹Blessed are you when they have slandered you, and persecuted you, and spoken all kinds of evil against you, falsely, for my sake: ¹²be glad and exult, for your reward in heaven is plentiful. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

⁴And I saw thrones. And they sat upon them. And judgment was given to them. And the souls of those beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and who did not adore the beast, nor his image, nor accept his character on their foreheads or on their hands: they lived and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

³¹So, what should we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He who did not spare even his own Son, but handed him over for the sake of us all, how could he not also, with him, have given us all things? ³³Who will make an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One who justifies; ³⁴who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus who has died, and who has indeed also risen again, is at the right hand of God, and even now he intercedes for us. ³⁵Then who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Or anguish? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or persecution? Or the sword?