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

"So that you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who killed the prophets.

Serpents! Brood of vipers! How shall you escape from the condemnation of hell?

so that on you may come all the righteous blood being shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [you] who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

And it came to pass when Jezabel had killed the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.

Has it not been told to you my lord, what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how that I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord, by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

And Jezebel sent to Elijah, and said, If you are Elijah and I am Jezebel, God do so to me and more also, if I do not make your life by this time tomorrow as the life of one of them!

And Elijah said, I have been very jealous for the Lord Almighty, because the children of Israel have forsaken You; they have dug down Your altars, and have slain Your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, What sort of a spirit of the Lord [has] spoken in you?

And Asa was angry with the prophet, and put him in prison, for he was angry at this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

And they conspired against him, and stoned him by command of King Joash in the court of the Lord's house.

So Joash remembered not the kindness which his father Jehoiada had exercised towards him, but killed his son. And as he died, he said, The Lord look upon [it], and judge.

And the Lord God of their fathers sent by the hand of His prophets; rising early and sending His messengers, for He had compassion on His people, and His sanctuary.

Nevertheless they sneered at His messengers, and despised His words, and mocked His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose up against His people, till there was no remedy.

But they turned, and revolted from You, and cast Your law behind their backs; and they killed Your prophets, who testified against them to turn them back to You, and they worked great provocations.

In vain have I smitten your children; you have not received correction. A sword has devoured your prophets as a destroying lion; yet you feared not.

In the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, even until this day for twenty-three years, I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking,

Turn, everyone of you, from his evil way, and from your evil practices, and you shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and your fathers, forever and ever.

But you hearkened not to Me.

And King Jehoiakim and all the princes heard all his words, and sought to kill him; and Urijah heard [it] and went to Egypt.

and they brought him out, and brought him into the king; and he struck him with the sword, and cast him into the sepulcher of the children of his people.

Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it is not possible [for] a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen [gathers] her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold about the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers,

who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are against all men,

forbidding us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved, so as always to fill up [the measure of] their sins; but the wrath [of God] has come upon them to the uttermost.

Still others took a trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and of prison.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tried, they were slain, being murdered with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, being afflicted, being ill treated,

And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.