¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much^(A) in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come^(B) eternal life.^(C)

8 And Saul^(A) approved of their killing him.

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered^(B) throughout Judea and Samaria.^(C)

⁵⁰ But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.^(A)

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?^(A) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?^(B)

¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^(A) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^(B) in persecutions,^(C) in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.^(D)