Matthew 5:12
New International Version
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

New Living Translation
Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

English Standard Version
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Berean Standard Bible
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Berean Literal Bible
Rejoice and exult, because great is your reward in the heavens; for thus they persecuted the prophets before you.

King James Bible
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

New King James Version
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

New American Standard Bible
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

NASB 1995
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

NASB 1977
“Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Legacy Standard Bible
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Amplified Bible
Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Christian Standard Bible
Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

American Standard Version
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Then rejoice and triumph, because your reward is great in Heaven, for just so they persecuted The Prophets who were before you.

Contemporary English Version
Be happy and excited! You will have a great reward in heaven. People did these same things to the prophets who lived long ago.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

English Revised Version
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Rejoice and be glad because you have a great reward in heaven! The prophets who lived before you were persecuted in these ways.

Good News Translation
Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.

International Standard Version
Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That's how they persecuted the prophets who came before you."

Literal Standard Version
rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in the heavens, for thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Majority Standard Bible
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

New American Bible
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

NET Bible
Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

New Revised Standard Version
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

New Heart English Bible
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Weymouth New Testament
Be joyful and triumphant, because your reward is great in the Heavens; for so were the Prophets before you persecuted.

World English Bible
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Young's Literal Translation
rejoice ye and be glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for thus did they persecute the prophets who were before you.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Beatitudes
11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you. 13You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.…

Cross References
2 Chronicles 36:16
But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

Jeremiah 37:14
"That is a lie," Jeremiah replied. "I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!" But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.

Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

Acts 7:52
Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers--

Romans 5:3
Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him,

1 Thessalonians 2:15
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,


Treasury of Scripture

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Rejoice.

Luke 6:23
Rejoice 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.

Acts 5:41
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Acts 16:25
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

for great.

Matthew 6:1,2,4,5,16
Take 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…

Matthew 10:41,42
He 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…

Matthew 16:27
For 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.

for so.

Matthew 21:34-38
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it…

Matthew 23:31-37
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets…

1 Kings 18:4,13
For 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.) …

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Matthew 5
1. Jesus' sermon on the mount:
3. The Beattitudes;
13. the salt of the earth;
14. the light of the world.
17. He came to fulfill the law.
21. What it is to kill;
27. to commit adultery;
33. to swear.
38. He exhorts to forgive wrong,
43. to love our enemies;
48. and to labor after perfection.














(12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.--The second word implies a glorious and exulting joy. The same combination is found, possibly as an actual echo of its use here, in 1Peter 1:8; 1Peter 4:13; Revelation 19:7.

Your reward.--The teaching of Luke 17:10 shows that even here the reward is not "of debt, but of grace" (Romans 4:4). It may be added that the temper to which the "reward" is promised practically excludes the possibility of such claim as of right. The reward is for those only who suffer "for righteousness, for Christ," not for those who are calculating on a future compensation. . . .

Verse 12. - Rejoice, and be exceeding glad (χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε). Our Lord uses no weaker expressions than those which describe the joy of the saints over the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). The first word expresses joy as such, the second its effect in stirring the emotions; this thought St. Luke carries still further in σκιρτήσατε. (For joy felt under persecution, cf. Acts 5:41.) For great. The order of the Greek, ὅτι ὀ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολύς, does not bear out the emphatic position assigned to "great" in the English Versions from Tyndale downwards (except Rheims), including Revised Version. Is your reward. The doctrine of recompense, which has so large a place in Jewish thought (for a not often-sire example, cf. 'Ab.,' 2:19, Taylor) comes also in Christ's teaching. In Matthew 20:1-16 reward is expressly divested of its merely legal side, and exhibited as ultimately dependent on the will of the great Householder. But here it is mentioned without reference to the difficulties involved in the conception. These difficulties centre round the thought of obligation from God to man. But it may be doubted whether these difficulties are not caused by too exclusively regarding the metaphor of contracting, instead of considering the fact indicated by the metaphor. In God's kingdom every action has a corresponding effect, and this effect is the more certain in proportion as the action is in the sphere of morality. The idea of "quantity" hardly enters into the relation of such cause and effect. It is a question of moral correspondence. But such effect may not unfitly be called by the metaphors "hire," "reward," because, on the one hand, it is the result of conditions of moral service, and, on the other, such terms imply a Personal Will at the back of the effect, as well as a will on the part of the human "servant." (For the subject in other connexions, cf. Weiss, 'Bibl. Theol.,' § 32; cf. also ver. 46; Matthew 6:1, 2, 4, 5, 6.) In heaven. Our Lord says, "your reward is great," because the effect of your exercise of moral powers will be received in a sphere where the accidents of the surroundings will entirely correspond to moral influences. The effect of your present faithfulness, etc., will be seen in the reception Of powers of work and usefulness and enjoyment, beside which those possessed on earth will appear small. On earth the opportunities, etc., are but "few things;" hereafter they will be "many things" (Matthew 25:21). For. Not as giving a reason for the assurance of reward (apparently Meyer and Weiss), but for the command, "rejoice," and be exceeding glad, and perhaps also for the predicate "blessed." Rejoice if persecuted, for such persecutions prove you to be the true successors of the prophets, your predecessors in like faithfulness (cf. James 5:10). So. By reproach, e.g. Elijah (1 Kings 18:17), Amos (Amos 7:12, 13); by persecution, e.g. Hanani (2 Chronicles 16:10), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:15); by saying all manner of evil, e.g. Amos (Amos 7:10), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:13), Daniel (Daniel 6:13). Which were before you. Added, surely, not as a mere temporal fact, but to indicate spiritual relationship (vide supra).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Rejoice
χαίρετε (chairete)
Verb - Present Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 5463: A primary verb; to be 'cheer'ful, i.e. Calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation, be well.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

celebrate,
ἀγαλλιᾶσθε (agalliasthe)
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 21: To exult, be full of joy. From agan and hallomai; properly, to jump for joy, i.e. Exult.

because
ὅτι (hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

great [is]
πολὺς (polys)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4183: Much, many; often.

your
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

reward
μισθὸς (misthos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3408: (a) pay, wages, salary, (b) reward, recompense, punishment. Apparently a primary word; pay for service, good or bad.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

heaven;
οὐρανοῖς (ouranois)
Noun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3772: Perhaps from the same as oros; the sky; by extension, heaven; by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel.

for
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

in the same way
οὕτως (houtōs)
Adverb
Strong's 3779: Thus, so, in this manner. Or (referring to what precedes or follows).

they persecuted
ἐδίωξαν (ediōxan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1377: To pursue, hence: I persecute. A prolonged form of a primary verb dio; to pursue; by implication, to persecute.

the
τοὺς (tous)
Article - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

prophets
προφήτας (prophētas)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4396: From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.

before
πρὸ (pro)
Preposition
Strong's 4253: A primary preposition; 'fore', i.e. In front of, prior to.

you.
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.


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