Who was the first to say Vengeance is mine? Many people know that as something from the Bible. If it was early on, then it’s likely God was the first to say it. If it’s early enough, then God said it before any of today’s major religions were established. But do we understand where it came from what it really means?
And, did you know, depending on which translation of the Bible you read, there’s a good chance you won’t find those three words – vengeance is mine?
It’s pretty much impossible to come up with a reliable history of that little voodoo doll pictured here.
It feels like no one really wants credit for it.
Some try to give credit, especially to Haiti or New Orleans. I’ve been to New Orleans many times, and they’re quite popular with tourists. And yet, there’s also lots of stuff out there saying it has nothing to do with the way voodoo is practiced in either location.
Even James Bond was involved with voodoo in Live And Let Die.
Whatever the reality is, right or wrong, the voodoo doll is symbolic of vengeance to many people today. Vengeance that we take, on our own, against our enemy by doing things to the doll.
Hopefully, you’re not into that. Not seriously, anyway
Why does it matter who was the first to say vengeance is mine?
Why does it matter who was the first to say vengeance is mine? It matters a lot, if we’re looking at the God of the Bible as the first one to say it. Why? Because if God claimed vengeance as something that was His and His alone, then we are probably not supposed to take vengeance on our own.
To that end, there are three religions that claim to have the God of the Bible. That’s the Christian Bible, which contains both the Jewish Scripture, Tanakh, and the Christian New Testament. Those three religions are, in order of their beginnings, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
As it turns out, only two of those three religions believe in the God of the Bible, as He describes Himself and as He is often referred to in those Holy Scriptures. In other words, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim Abraham as the father of their religion.
However, The God of the Bible is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Islam, in spite of its claim, did not come through Jacob or Isaac. Furthermore, it’s only by ignoring significant events in Genesis that Islam can lay its claim to Abraham as its father. For more on that, please check out What Religion Was Abraham?
Therefore, since we’re looking at Jewish and Christian scriptures, and since Islam cannot actually trace its roots back through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we’re only going to look at Judaism and Christianity.
Did God say vengeance is mine or not?
As I mentioned above, depending on your Bible translation, you may not even find “vengeance is mine” if you search for it. I normally use the 1984 NIV when I write, because it’s supposedly the most popular one around the world. Also, it’s often used in dual language Bibles, with English on one side of the page and another language on the other side.
When I searched for “vengeance is mine”, it came up “not found”. The same was true for the 2010 version. Huh. I know those words, so it’s got to be in some Bible somewhere. Since I grew up using the King James variants, I tried both the KJV and the NLJV. Sure enough, there it was in the New King James Version. Three times.
For all of you using the NIV, here are those three verses, side by side, from both the NIV and the NKJV translations.
Vengeance Is Mine
| Verse | NIV | NKJV |
|---|---|---|
| Deuteronomy 32:35 | "It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” | "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them." |
| Romans 12:19 | Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. | Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. |
| Hebrews 10:30 | For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” | For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” |
As you can see, the verses from Romans and Hebrews both refer back to the one in Deuteronomy. That means our earlier question of when did God say, “vengeance is mine”, was very early. Certainly before Christianity. In the case of Judaism, it was one of the laws given by God to His chosen people.
However, while the verses do refer back to Deut. 32:35, that’s not actually the origin of the command from God.
Here’s the thing about this reference back to yet another reference. The Jewish people in Biblical times had something of an “advantage” over us. They couldn’t read. That’s why I put ” ” around the word advantage. While not being able to read was certainly problematic in many ways, it did mean they had to memorize their scriptures. There were scrolls containing them in the Synagogues. But only those who were literate could read them.
What that did mean though is that they knew their scriptures much better than most of us do today. So, when Paul wrote Romans or when an unknown person wrote Hebrews, the person listening would automatically make the connection back to Deuteronomy and then connect back to Leviticus. Just the mention of Leviticus will prove to most people that we don’t know our Bible all that well, because so many people don’t even read Leviticus today.
Maybe that’s why we don’t understand and appreciate what “‘vengeance is mine’, sayeth The LORD” really means? BTW – that quote goes back even before the NKJV.
Vengeance Is Mine – From Romans and Hebrews to Deuteronomy to Leviticus
Since we obviously don’t understand vengeance is mine, let’s trace the roots. Not backwards, but from the middle to the origin as a command from God to His chosen people, and then to Christianity.
The middle – The Song of Moses
The Song of Moses? That doesn’t even sound like it’s got commands from God. And technically, it doesn’t. And yet, .. they are in there. Here’s some background on the Song of Moses. As you read it, pay attention to the sad reality that it still applies to us, today, as Christians. The sadness isn’t the commands. Rather, it’s that we still need them because we still have the same problems.
Song of Moses. Moses has already written the Law book as a witness against Israel, should they turn away from God (Dt 31:19). But the Law itself required at least two witnesses to establish any charge (17:6); Moses is now commanded to write down the song as a further witness against Israel (31:19). It is interesting that Moses, like Paul, has no illusions about human nature (v 29; Acts 20:30).
As I mentioned, that exact same witness is applicable against us today. As the excerpt points out, Paul knew this. As we’ll see, so did the author of the New Testament book of Hebrews.
The song is therefore a witness to the greatness and goodness of God, and in particular, his goodness to Israel (Dt 32:10–14). This grace underlines all the more the sinfulness of Israel’s response (v 6), which can only call forth the anger of God and consequent punishment (v 19). God will use “natural disasters,” wild beasts, and wars, to carry out his purposes. Yet even this is not the end. God, in his grace, will turn his hand against Israel’s enemies instead, and rescue his own people (v 36).
Once again, the references to and allegations against Israel also apply to us today. That includes our sinfulness, our response to God, and God’s offer of salvation for us through Jesus’ death on the cross.
This song carries the consistent message of every great prophet of the OT, a message that Psalm 78 expresses in terms of Israel’s historical situations. The song outlines the very nature of God, and it is not strange that the song of heaven is “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Rv 15:3). 1
Since Psalm 78 is mentioned, here’s the beginning of it, to give us additional background on today’s topic.
Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph.
1 My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
3 things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
Here’s the problem. In spite of all those lofty words about telling their children, knowing God, and turning to God, His chosen people failed to do that consistently. Over and over.
In the same way, we’re not able to be any different than our ancestors. That is, Christians aren’t any better at consistently following Jesus than the Israelite/Hebrew/Jewish people were at following YAHWEH, The LORD as they referred to Him so often.
Before we move on – back – to the origins of God’s command that vengeance was His, let’s pick up just a little bit of context for our verse from The Song of Moses.
The Song of Moses
…
Dt 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.”
Dt 32:36 The LORD will judge his people
and have compassion on his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.
Dt 32:37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,
Dt 32:38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!
Dt 32:39 “See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
Dt 32:40 I lift my hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,
Dt 32:41 when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
…
As you can see, everything we looked at above is in these verses from The Song of Moses. So, while it’s not God’s actual commands, it is a retelling, in this format, of what God gave Moses to tell the people. We can also see how those same things apply to us today as well.
Even though we’re New Covenant, and this was the Old Covenant, the issues remain. The solution from God remains. And our disobeying and turning away from God also remains.
With that sad thought, let’s go back to Leviticus.
God’s statement from Leviticus – Vengeance Is Mine
We move on now to a section in Leviticus the NIV titles Various Laws. Given that is pretty much a list of various laws, I only included the verses applicable to today’s topic.
Various Laws
Lev 19:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
…
Lev 19:11 “ ‘Do not steal.
“ ‘Do not lie.
“ ‘Do not deceive one another.
Lev 19:12 “ ‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
Lev 19:13 “ ‘Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
“ ‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.
Lev 19:14 “ ‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
Lev 19:15 “ ‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Lev 19:16 “ ‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
“ ‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
Lev 19:17 “ ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
Verse 1 is there to set the tone. We should be Holy because God is Holy.
Verses 11 through 17 are included to help us think of scenarios where we might want revenge on someone. Yes, these are commands for us listing things God doesn’t want us to do. But what if the situation was reversed? Then, we might want revenge against the person who did those things to us.
However, remember that we are God’s children. When someone does something against us, they’re also doing it against God. For that matter, if anyone does something against God’s creation, whether a child of His or someone who hates Him, or even an object He created, it’s a sin against God. As such, God claims the right to revenge to be His, and His only. We read this in the next verse.
Lev 19:18 “ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
…
Does that verse sound familiar? Even if you’ve never opened your Bible to any page in Leviticus? If you’re Christian, it should ring a bell.
The Greatest Commandment – Matthew
22:34-40 pp — Mk 12:28-31
Mt 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Mt 22:37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Are you beginning to understand why Vengeance Is Mine is so important?
And don’t forget, our neighbor is everyone. No exceptions. And just in case that doesn’t really resonate, here’s another related command from Jesus.
Love for Enemies – Matthew
Mt 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
God’s statement from Romans – Vengeance Is Mine
Now that we have the source, plus some additional context from Jesus, let’s take a look at the Romans verse with some context. The passage below is, obviously, considered to be about Love. But look what’s tucked in there towards the end.
Love – Romans
Ro 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Ro 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Ro 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Ro 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
For emphasis, here’s the verse again:
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
It’s hard to just “don’t do” whatever it is we’re not supposed to do. Plus, it might make us feel like little kids. But then, if we act like little kids, …
Really though, I often look at the Old Testament as God teaching people to be even a little bit civilized at the beginning. Then moving on to the Ten Commandments to “don’t do …”. Not to mention the other 600 or so laws.
And then we get to the New Testament. As we saw above in The Greatest Commandment, Jesus reduced the entire law and everything the prophets said to two “do this” statements!
So when we read something like the Love passage from Romans, it’s not just don’t take revenge because that’s God’s. It’s the reminders of what the Greatest Commandments are. The reminder of what love, God’s kind of Love, is about. And then there’s the reminder about vengeance from The Law in the Old Covenant.
In essence, Paul uses a more loving way to tell us not to take revenge through his roundabout path to get to the heart of the matter. In a very real sense, a more Christ-like way. Demonstrating love in the process of reminding us to love rather than retaliate and get our own vengeance when God has claimed it for Himself.
God’s statement from Hebrews – Vengeance Is Mine
We’ll see below that the message in Hebrews is more specifically targeted than any of the previous ones we looked at. It’s a special case. I included the entire passage to make the point. Although, you may be surprised about what the point is.
A Call to Persevere
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Heb 10:32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
Heb 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
Heb 10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
So – I asked ChatGPT to summarize that passage for me. Here’s what it came back with – not bad at all.
The passage encourages believers to approach God with confidence through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining faith and holding on to hope. The text also warns against deliberately continuing in sin, as it brings judgment and a fearful expectation of punishment. It mentions the severe consequences for those who reject the sanctifying power of the blood of Jesus and insult the Spirit of grace. The readers are reminded of their earlier perseverance and endurance in the face of suffering, and they are urged not to lose their confidence but to persevere in doing God’s will. The passage concludes by contrasting those who shrink back with those who believe and are saved.
You can see, it was about people who went through tough times. They were persevering in the midst of suffering. And yet, they were also being warned. There was a difference between those who persevered and those who didn’t. And continued intentional sinning has consequences.
The image and text below come from The Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind, in its comments on verse 31.
“You are using scare tactics by talking about hell and Judgment Day.”
In the late 1980s, TV commercials in the U.S. asked, What goes through the mind of a driver who is not wearing a seat belt in a head-on collision? Then they showed a crash dummy having its head crushed by a steering wheel in a collision, and said, “The steering wheel!”
Those were scare tactics, but no one complained because they were legitimate scare tactics. That’s what happens in a head-on collision if you are foolish enough to not put on a seat belt.
To warn of hell is fearful, but it is absolutely legitimate, because the Bible says that it is a fearful thing for a sinner to fall into the hands of the living God. 2
I think that’s the way we often feel about the kind of warning in this “special case”. The special case where Christians intentionally continue to sin.
And for our topic of Vengeance I Mine, we’re doing something God explicitly claimed as His alone.
Since Hebrews was written originally for Jews who were converting to Christianity, The Way at the time, the excerpt below is from The Jewish New Testament Commentary.
26–31 These verses recapitulate, in even stronger language, the exhortation of 6:4–8, with emphasis on fearing God. The modern tendency is to bowdlerize fear of God into “reverence for God” or minimize it by exalting love of God as a higher motivation for right behavior than fear of him. But doing so blunts the impact which the prospect of judgment ought to make (vv. 27, 30–31). There is a right reason for fearing God; there is such a thing as “holy fear” (11:7). “The fear of Adonai is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
Those who deliberately continue to sin (v. 26) are doing what the Torah calls sinning “with a high hand,” and for such sins the Levitical system of sacrifices prescribed in the Torah does not atone (see Ya 2:10–11&N). Think how much worse it will be for those who highhandedly ignore Yeshua’s atoning sacrificial death (v. 29)! This is the point of this passage.3
What is the “special case” in Hebrews?
Again, we see this is a serious warning for what I called a “special case”. And what is that special case?
Hint – it’s not just for Jewish people who converted to Christianity.
No, it’s for anyone who claims to be Christian, even acted for all appearances as a true Christian for a time, but isn’t any longer.
I know this is going to bring up the question of whether salvation can be lost. But – here goes.
Do you remember the parable of the sower?
The Parable of the Sower – Matthew
13:1-15 pp — Mk 4:1-12; Lk 8:4-10
13:16, 17 pp — Lk 10:23, 24
13:18-23 pp — Mk 4:13-20; Lk 8:11-15
Mt 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
Mt 13:10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
Mt 13:11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
Mt 13:14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Mt 13:15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Mt 13:18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Check out the ones who last a short time, Fall away because of persecution. Had Jesus in their hearts and then lost Him.
Here’s a question. If that happens, does that person lose their salvation? Or did they never have it in the first place?
If you’re not sure, here’s another question. Do you believe Jesus gave that warning, but He wasn’t really serious? That it’s just words, but the consequences he warned us of won’t ever happen? OK, that was several questions.
But here’s some more. Do you think God can be fooled? Tricked into giving salvation to someone who falls into the categories He warned us about in the Parable of the Sower?
Remember, God already knew everything about us, even before we were born. He knew, before we got baptized, whether we’d stick with Him or turn away from Him. Will God be mocked by those who gained salvation even when God already let us know that they would be burned as chaff rather than harvested as wheat?
That’s why I included the Jewish look at the verse in Hebrews. Messianic Jews understand the failures and the warning from the Old Testament. They can relate to both the promises and the warnings of the New Testament.
Conclusion – Who was the first to say vengeance is mine?
Yes, God was the first to say, Vengeance in Mine.
And sure, lots of people, each of us included, have had times when we wanted, even got revenge for ourselves. We didn’t wait for God.
These days, there are so many people in public offices, friends in high places, friends in low places, just plain lots of people, who live for revenge. And those people are celebrated by our culture today. They’re culture warriors and people love them.
For those of us who claim to be Christian, who truly want to spend eternity with God in His Heaven, in the next life as He set the rules for, we’d best better remember what we just looked at.
“Vengeance is Mine”, said God.
And if we’re not happy with that, there is an alternative. An alternative in which we are warned about a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Not a happy place.
Not where I hope to be.
Image by 6847478 from Pixabay
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