Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. '”
“Revenge belongs to the Lord” means that it is not our place as humans to retaliate and repay a wrongdoing with another wrongdoing. It is God's place to make the situation right and it is Him who will bring justice to a hurtful circumstance. “The Lord is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth.
The Centers for Spiritual Living teaches that love, forgiveness and compassion are the highest ways. Revenge is inflicting wounding or harm for wounding and harm. So revenge is the action of doing what one has condemned, creating more injury.
Here we have in verse 19 the phrase, “wrath of God.” “Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. '”
In Bonhoeffer's words, Nowhere do those who pray these psalms want to take revenge into their own hands; they leave vengeance to God alone…. Therefore they must abandon all personal thoughts of revenge and must be free from their own thirst for revenge; otherwise vengeance is not seriously left to God.
Reformed theologian William M'Gavin opined that "the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance; these are, wilful murder—sin of Sodom—oppression of the poor—to defraud servants of their wages" are greater in gravity than the seven deadly sins.
Sadly, evidence shows that people who seek revenge instead of forgiving or letting go, tend to feel worse in the long run. You are much better off channelling your energy into moving forward positively with your life.
Romans 12:19-21 The Passion Translation (TPT)
For the Scriptures say: “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay,” says the Lord. And: If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch! Win him over with kindness. For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience, and God will reward you with favor.
Vengeance is mine is a biblical quotation from: Deuteronomy 32:35. Romans 12:19.
Loosely based on Greek mythology, the game is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, the former God of War, after his betrayal at the hands of his father Zeus, King of the Olympian gods.
Revenge re-opens and aggravates your emotional wounds. Even though you might be tempted to punish a wrong, you end up punishing yourself because you can't heal.
late 15c., "act of avenging, revenge," from Old French vindicacion "vengeance, revenge" and directly from Latin vindicationem (nominative vindicatio) "act of claiming or avenging," noun of action from past participle stem of vindicare "lay claim to, assert; claim for freedom, set free; protect, defend; avenge" (related ...
People are motivated to seek revenge — to harm someone who has harmed them — when they feel attacked, mistreated or socially rejected. Getting an eye for an eye, Old Testament-style, is thought to bring a sense of catharsis and closure.
Psalms 13, 31, 37, 91 and 94 are analysed in relation to individual suffering and vengeance and Pss 58, 79, 137 and 149 in relation to collective suffering and vengeance. Vengeance does feature in the Psalms, but very seldom is vengeance asked for as such. Suffering takes many shapes and has many causes in the Psalter.
Once again: Retribution, if proportionate, is still justice. This supports the statement that revenge can conditionally be justified. Even is revenge is proportionate, many still hold suspicions related to whether the person's motives contribute to whether vengeance is justified.
People seek revenge when: They feel they have been attacked and suffered some unjust loss or injury. As a result they are feeling anger, hate, jealousy, envy, or shame.
The biblical authors want us to see that God's anger is always a response to human betrayal and evil, and it's expressed through handing humans over to the logical consequences of their decisions. In other words, God's anger is expressed by giving humans what they want, or at least, what they've chosen.
Exodus 23:27 New Century Version (NCV)
“I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I will make all your enemies run away from you.
Our anger can often be unpredictable, petty, and disproportionate. Although these things are often true of human anger, none of them are true of the anger of God. God's wrath is the just and measured response of his holiness toward evil.
People sometimes give this impression when they're offering a short description of the gospel. But Scripture shows us that the Father and Son are both wrathful toward sin, and both loving toward sinners. God the Father loves us, and sent his Son to save us.
”Vengeance is retribution/retaliation done on behalf of someone who has been wronged, whereas “revenge” is retribution/retaliation done by the same person who has suffered the (perceived) wrong.
Cataclysmic Wrath: This is the wrath of God unleashed through natural disasters, hurricanes, tornados, mudslides, forest fires, sink holes, and various other disasters like that of tsunamis. The rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16:31-35 is an example of this type of wrath.
When people bring negative situations in your life there's no reason to retaliate. When you try to seek revenge you are only bringing on more problems for yourself. In your mind, you're doing anything in your power to hurt that person the same way, if not more than they did you and it's not even worth it.
For people who wrote a letter expressing forgiveness, the researchers found that their levels of self-humanity were higher than people who wrote a revenge letter. Additionally, those who forgave reported lower inclination toward self-harm. In other words, forgiving has benefits for those of us who have been hurt.
Revenge is an act of vindictiveness; justice, of vindication. The intense effort to avenge oneself or others can easily become corrupting, morally reducing the avenger's status to that of the perpetrator. Two wrongs do not make a right and (ethically speaking) never can.