Romans 12:20

Plain English Version

Instead of you doing payback to them, you have to do like God says in another place in his book. He says, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. Then they will be sorry and feel shame for the bad things they did to you.”

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 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.

Romans 12:21

So don’t do payback to anybody. Don’t do bad things to them. If you do that payback, it is like you let that bad part of you win. But instead, you have to be good to everybody. That’s how you properly win against bad things.

1 Samuel 26:21

Saul said, “I did the wrong thing. You are good to me. I can’t do wrong to you again. You didn’t kill me, but I truly did wrong. I was a stupid fool. You are like my son. Come back to me.”