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Exodus 22:25
“ Suppose you lend money to one of my people among you who is in need. Then do not treat it like a business deal. Do not charge any interest at all.
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Jeremiah 20:7-8
You tricked me, Lord, and I was tricked. You overpowered me and won. People make fun of me all day long. Everyone laughs at me.Every time I speak, I cry out. All you ever tell me to talk about is fighting and trouble. Your message has brought me nothing but dishonor. It has made me suffer shame all day long.
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Jeremiah 1:18-19
Today I have made you like a city that has a high wall around it. I have made you like an iron pillar and a bronze wall. Now you can stand up against the whole land. You can stand against the kings and officials of Judah. You can stand against its priests and its people.They will fight against you. But they will not win the battle over you. I am with you. I will save you,” announces the Lord.
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Psalms 15:5
They lend their money to poor people without charging interest. They don’t accept money to harm those who aren’t guilty. Anyone who lives like that will always be secure.
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Jeremiah 15:20
I will make you like a wall to them. I will make you like a strong bronze wall. The people will fight against you. But they will not overcome you. I am with you. I will save you,” announces the Lord.
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Job 3:1-26
After a while, Job opened his mouth to speak. He cursed the day he had been born.He said,“ May the day I was born be wiped out. May the night be wiped away when people said,‘ A boy is born!’May that day turn into darkness. May God in heaven not care about it. May no light shine on it.May gloom and total darkness take it back. May a cloud settle over it. May blackness cover it up.May deep darkness take over the night I was born. May it not be included among the days of the year. May it never appear in any of the months.May no children ever have been born on that night. May no shout of joy be heard in it.May people say evil things about that day. May people ready to wake the sea monster Leviathan say evil things about that day.May its morning stars become dark. May it lose all hope of ever seeing daylight. May it not see the first light of the morning sun.It didn’t keep my mother from letting me be born. It didn’t keep my eyes from seeing trouble.“ Why didn’t I die when I was born? Why didn’t I die as I came out of my mother’s body?Why was I placed on her knees? Why did her breasts give me milk?If all of that hadn’t happened, I would be lying down in peace. I’d be asleep and at rest in the grave.I’d be with the earth’s kings and rulers. They had built for themselves places that are now destroyed.I’d be with princes who used to have gold. They had filled their houses with silver.Why wasn’t I buried like a baby who was born dead? Why wasn’t I buried like a child who never saw the light of day?In the grave, sinful people don’t cause trouble anymore. And there tired people find rest.Prisoners also enjoy peace there. They don’t hear a slave driver shouting at them anymore.The least important and most important people are there. And there the slaves are set free from their owners.“ Why should those who suffer ever be born? Why should life be given to those whose spirits are bitter?Why is life given to those who long for death that doesn’t come? Why is it given to those who would rather search for death than for hidden treasure?Why is life given to those who are actually happy and glad when they reach the grave?Why is life given to a man like me? God hasn’t told me what will happen to me. He has surrounded me with nothing but trouble.Sighs have become my food every day. Groans pour out of me like water.What I was afraid of has come on me. What I worried about has happened to me.I don’t have any peace and quiet. I can’t find any rest. All I have is trouble.”
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Ezekiel 2:6-7
Son of man, do not be afraid of them or of what they say. Do not be afraid, even if thorns and bushes are all around you. Do not be afraid, even if you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say. Do not be terrified by them. They always refuse to obey me.You must give them my message. They might listen, or they might not. After all, they refuse to obey me.
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Acts 16:20-22
They brought them to the judges.“ These men are Jews,” her owners said.“ They are making trouble in our city.They are suggesting practices that are against Roman law. These are practices we can’t accept or take part in.”The crowd joined the attack against Paul and Silas. The judges ordered that Paul and Silas be stripped and beaten with rods.
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Proverbs 26:2
A curse given for no reason is like a wandering bird or a flying sparrow. It doesn’t go anywhere.
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1 Kings 22 8
The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat. He said,“ There is still one other man we can go to. We can ask the Lord for advice through him. But I hate him. He never prophesies anything good about me. He only prophesies bad things. His name is Micaiah. He’s the son of Imlah.”“ You shouldn’t say bad things about him,” Jehoshaphat replied.
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1 Kings 21 20
Ahab said to Elijah,“ My enemy! You have found me!”“ I have found you,” he answered.“ That’s because you gave yourself over to do evil things. You did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
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1 Kings 18 17-1 Kings 18 18
When he saw Elijah, he said to him,“ Is that you? You are always stirring up trouble in Israel.”“ I haven’t made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied.“ But you and your father’s family have. You have turned away from the Lord’ s commands. You have followed gods that are named Baal.
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1 Corinthians 4 9-1 Corinthians 4 13
It seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of a parade. We are like people sentenced to die in front of a crowd. We have been made a show for the whole creation to see. Angels and people are staring at us.We are fools for Christ. But you are so wise in Christ! We are weak. But you are so strong! You are honored. But we are looked down on!Up to this very hour we are hungry and thirsty. We are dressed in rags. We are being treated badly. We have no homes.We work hard with our own hands. When others curse us, we bless them. When we are attacked, we put up with it.When others say bad things about us, we answer with kind words. We have become the world’s garbage. We are everybody’s trash, right up to this moment.
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Deuteronomy 23:19-20
Don’t charge your own people any interest. Don’t charge them when they borrow money, food or anything else.You can charge interest to people from another country. But don’t charge your own people. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. He will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.
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Luke 2:34
Then Simeon blessed them. He said to Mary, Jesus’ mother,“ This child is going to cause many people in Israel to fall and to rise. God has sent him. But many will speak against him.
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Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they have nothing to do with you and say bad things about you, and when they treat your name as something evil. They do all this because you are followers of the Son of Man.
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Matthew 5:44
But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.
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Jeremiah 20:14-18
May the day I was born be cursed! May the day I was born to my mother not be blessed!May the man who brought my father the news be cursed! He’s the one who made my father very glad. He said,“ You have had a baby! It’s a boy!”May that man be like the towns the Lord destroyed without pity. May that man hear loud weeping in the morning. May he hear a battle cry at noon.He should have killed me in my mother’s body. He should have made my mother my grave. He should have let her body stay large forever.Why did I ever come out of my mother’s body? I’ve seen nothing but trouble and sorrow. My days will end in shame.
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Acts 19:25-28
One day he called them together. He also called others who were in the same kind of business.“ My friends,” he said,“ you know that we make good money from our work.You have seen and heard what this fellow Paul is doing. He has talked to large numbers of people here in Ephesus. Almost everywhere in Asia Minor he has led people away from our gods. He says that the gods made by human hands are not gods at all.Our work is in danger of losing its good name. People’s faith in the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be weakened. Now she is worshiped all over Asia Minor and the whole world. But soon she will be robbed of her greatness.”When they heard this, they became very angry. They began shouting,“ Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
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Acts 28:22
But we want to hear what your ideas are. We know that people everywhere are talking against those who believe as you do.”
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Ezekiel 3:7-9
But the people of Israel do not want to listen to you. That is because they do not want to listen to me. All the Israelites are very stubborn.But I will make you just as stubborn as they are.I will make you very brave. So do not be afraid of them. Do not let them terrify you, even though they refuse to obey me.”
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Matthew 24:9
“ Then people will hand you over to be treated badly and killed. All nations will hate you because of me.
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Psalms 120:5-6
How terrible it is for me to live in the tents of the people of Meshek! How terrible to live in the tents of the people of Kedar!I have lived too long among those who hate peace.
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Acts 19:8-9
Paul entered the synagogue. There he spoke boldly for three months. He gave good reasons for believing the truth about God’s kingdom.But some of them wouldn’t listen. They refused to believe. In public they said evil things about the Way of Jesus. So Paul left them. He took the believers with him. Each day he talked with people in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
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Matthew 10:21-23
“ Brothers will hand over brothers to be killed. Fathers will hand over their children. Children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death.You will be hated by everyone because of me. But anyone who remains strong in the faith will be saved.When people attack you in one place, escape to another. What I’m about to tell you is true. You will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
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Leviticus 25:36
Do not charge them interest of any kind. Instead, have respect for God. Then those who have become poor can continue to live among you.
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Acts 17:6-8
But they couldn’t find them. So they dragged Jason and some other believers to the city officials.“ These men have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted.“ Now they have come here.Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all disobeying Caesar’s commands. They say there is another king. He is called Jesus.”When the crowd and the city officials heard this, they became very upset.
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Psalms 109:28
They may curse me. But may you bless me. May those who attack me be put to shame. But may I be filled with joy.
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Nehemiah 5:1-6
Some men and their wives cried out against their Jewish brothers and sisters.Some of them were saying,“ There are now many of us. We have many sons and daughters. We have to get some grain so we can eat and stay alive.”Others were saying,“ We’re being forced to sell our fields, vineyards and homes. We have to do it to buy grain. There isn’t enough food for everyone.”Still others were saying,“ We’ve had to borrow money. We needed it to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.We belong to the same family lines as the rest of our people. Our children are as good as theirs. But we’ve had to sell them off as slaves. Some of our daughters have already been made slaves. But we can’t do anything about it. That’s because our fields and vineyards now belong to others.”I heard them when they cried out. And I was very angry when I heard what they were saying.