Hatred is a feeling that can be both Godly and sinful depending on why it is there. The Bible speaks of loving God and hating evil, hating evildoers, and hating lies. The more we become like Jesus and understand the love of God, the more we will begin to hate lies, godlessness and the evil of the world. However, we are also warned constantly i the Bible of how hatred and bitterness can destroy us. God tells us in His Word that hate is a heart issue and that someone who hates a brother (anyone) is a murderer! We are encouraged to love one another, not hold one another’s wrongs against them, and forgive them, not building up bitterness or anger in our hearts.
Here are 20 Bible verses covering anger and hatred:
1 John 1:6
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
1 John 2:9-11
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
Ephesians 4:31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Proverbs 8:13
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.
Proverbs 10:18
Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.
Psalm 5:5
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;
Psalm 31:6
I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the LORD.
Psalm 36:2
In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.
Psalm 45:7
You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
Psalm 97:10
Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 119:163
I hate and detest falsehood but I love your law.
Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Leviticus 19:17-18
Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.”Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
Luke 6:27-28
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Matthew 5:23-24
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you
1 John 3:14-15
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
1 John 4:19-20
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.