1 Peter 3:9

Plain English Version

If somebody rubbishes you, don’t rubbish them back. If somebody does wrong to you, don’t do payback to them. Instead of that, you have to ask God to be good to them. God picked you to be in his family and to live like that. And if you are good to people like that, God will be good to you too.

Cross References

Genesis 42:25

Then Joseph got ready to send his brothers back to Canaan country. He said to his workers, “Fill up these men’s bags with food, so that they can take it home to their families. And give them some food to eat on the way home too.” And those workers did what Joseph said. Joseph’s brothers already paid for that food, but Joseph talked secretly to his workers, and he said, “Get the money that those men paid us, and hide it in their food bags.” So those workers did what Joseph said. Then they gave those food bags to Joseph’s brothers, with the money inside. But Joseph’s brothers didn’t know that their money was in those bags.

Matthew 25:34

Then I will say to the people on my right-hand side, ‘Come on, you mob. My father is happy with you, so you can be in his family. A long time ago, at the time when he made the world, he made a good place for you. It is ready for you now.

Matthew 5:39

But now I’m telling you this, don’t do payback at all. If somebody does something bad to you, don’t do payback to them. Somebody might hit you on one side of your face. All right, let them hit you on the other side of your face too.

Matthew 5:44

But I’m telling you to do more than that. You have to love your enemies too. And if anyone makes trouble for you, pray to God and ask him to be good to them.

Mark 10:17

After that, Jesus started to leave that place. Then a man ran up to him and got down on his knees to show Jesus respect. The man said, “Teacher, you are a good man. Tell me, what can I do so that I will live with God for ever?”

Luke 10:25

One day, a Jewish law man went to Jesus. He wanted to test Jesus, to see if he can answer a hard question. So he asked Jesus, “Teacher, what can I do so that I will live with God for ever?”

Romans 12:14

If anyone makes trouble for you, don’t ask God to punish them, but ask him to help them.

Romans 12:17

If people do some bad things to you, don’t do payback to them. You have to do good things, so that people will know that you are good.

Romans 8:28

And we know too that God picked us out to be his people, to love him and to do whatever he wants, so he makes everything work out good for us.

Romans 8:30

So, after he picked us out, he called to us to come to him, and after we came to him, he said that we are all right now, and he will make us really great too.

Galatians 3:14

So now the people that are not Jews can get the good things from God that he said he will give to Abraham’s family. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, God will give us his spirit, just like he promised.

Ephesians 4:32

Instead, be good to each other, and try to understand how other people feel. If somebody does wrong to you, don’t do payback to them, but let it go. Be good to each other, just like God is good to you. He doesn’t do payback to you. You belong to Jesus Christ now, so God doesn’t punish you for those bad things you did.

1 Thessalonians 5:15

If somebody does something bad to you, don’t try to do payback to them, but always try to be good to each other and to everyone else too.

1 Peter 5:10

But trouble doesn’t last for ever. After you have trouble for a short time, God will be good to you. He will make everything right for you and make you properly strong for him. He picked you to join you up with Jesus Christ. He did that so that, in the end, you will be very great with Jesus for ever.

1 Samuel 26:11

But not us. We can’t kill him. God does not want me to kill this man that he picked. Let’s just take his spear, and that billycan of water that is near his head, and we will go back.”