You’re here because you were searching for a bible verse about bullying. Here, we have gathered together several verses that cover the subject of bullying, so that you can gain some new perspective and lessons from them.
Here’s the big secret: You don’t have to be religious to read, understand, and benefit from bible verses. You can treat the bible like any other old book filled with quotes and verses. That’s okay. You don’t have to buy into everything that’s in the bible, you don’t have to believe in God, you can just take these verses as they are, just like lessons from any other book. Religious people find great benefits in their life from believing and studying the bible, but you can still read bible verses about bullying and gain some insights from them without belonging to, or practicing, any religion.
Hearing that might rub some of you the wrong way, but if you’re very religious, wouldn’t you prefer for secular people read and learn from teachings of the bible, as opposed to not doing that? If you have faith in the teachings of the bible, you should want more people to hear them, not less people.
For everyone else, whether you belong to a different faith, or you’re an atheist, or agnostic, or the Pope himself, whatever – take what you will from these verses – that’s what they are here for.
Let’s Discuss These Bible Verses About Bullying
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Luke 6:27-28
This verse wants you to pray for your bully. Essentially, it means to recognize that your bully is a damaged person. Many bullies are victims of bullying themselves, often from their parents. If you have a loving home, you’re already at such a big advantage over a bully.
But you still have to look after yourself. You don’t have to put up with bullying. You don’t have to have so much empathy for your bully that you don’t do anything what their behavior towards you.
If you’re a victim of severe bullying, and turning your cheek means that you have a miserable life and you’re potentially in danger, that’s not a win, is it? It’s biblical, but you’re suffering at the hands of someone else, and they’re getting away with it, and you aren’t seeking out additional help. It’s such a difficult situation, to deal with a bully.
The Christian Crier blog offers the following thoughts: “If you are being bullied, either as a child or a teen or even as an adult at work, don’t seek to get even, seek to pray for them. That’s not easy but it is biblical. Pray for those who hate us and then ask God to bless those who curse us and abuse us but it cannot be done in our own strength.”
What do you think about their take on this? If you pray for those who are bullying you, you’re hoping that God makes their situation better, so that they stop bullying.
But what if that doesn’t happen? What if your prayers aren’t answered? Is it okay to have another plan to deal with bullies, for example seeking help from a teacher, or another authority figure? Is it okay to try to reason with your bully, to level with them, to get them to leave you alone. Yes. It’s problem-solving. Don’t take the Bible’s message to suggest that you need to just ignore your bully, pray for them, and hope they stop because that’s just not good advice, sorry.
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:18
The idea here is to not fight fire with fire. If your bully is physically attacking you, then escalating physically can increase the stakes, and can lead to even further violence, which can get out of hand very, very quickly and can lead to lives being ruined. If your bully is gossiping about you, you can avoid stooping to their level. Still, it’s important to acknowlege the different between seeking vengeance, or seeking justice. Seeking out justice for your bully is a good idea, but you can do that without seeking out revenge on them. You deserve justice, you deserve for them to stop bullying and to face consequences, but do it through the proper channels, not through seeking to get even with them because that won’t make you feel better, and it can actually make your life much worse if you end up causing some sort of permanent injury to them, or you get caught gossiping, etc. You aren’t the bully here, so don’t start acting like one. But again, that doesn’t mean just letting everything slide, either.
Dealing With Bullies How The Bible Says To?
The bible and many pastors will advice you to deal with your bully by loving them, accepting them, and giving them what they aren’t able to give to others. This advice is good on paper, and there are situations where it can work, but let’s be real – not every bully is going to respond to that. In some cases, where your bully is just acting out due to having a hard time of their own, the compassion can sway them and I would argue the pastors are spot-on there, but that isn’t always the case.
Not into the bible? Check out these other books on bullying.
You don’t owe it to your bully to offer them your love or empathy. It’s okay if you don’t like them, you don’t have to like them. It’s okay for you to take steps to ensure that their behavior is not allowed to continue, in the name of protecting yourself. These steps can include documenting their behavior and reporting them to the proper authorities, whether it’s their parents, the school, or even the police if they are doing criminal things.
A Bible Verse About Bullying Isn’t The Only Answer
Reading a few verses, studying them a bit… it can be useful, but it’s not always the most practical way to deal with a bully. There’s more to teenagers bullying than you can easily learn from a few bible verses. There are many other books books on bullying, too. Granted, if you look closely, you’ll find wisdom from the bible in some of those books, too, because stories of bullying have been around forever. Anyways, hopefully you found some useful information here, some thoughts that resonate with you, and if you take objection to anything here – please don’t. Our ultimate goal is to help teens who are struggling with bullies, and in some cases that means sharing a bible verse about bullying, and in other cases it means taking more actionable steps than praying for your bully, but you’re free to disagree.
