The best Bible verses for evil (ESV) include passages about God's love, strength, and guidance. This page features 15+ carefully curated Scripture passages for evil (ESV), each selected for its relevance and depth. Read, save, and share the perfect verse for your situation.
"I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."1 John 2:14
"I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."1 John 2:14
"We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous."1 John 3:12
"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him."1 John 5:18
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."1 Peter 2:16
"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing."1 Peter 3:9
"For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;"1 Peter 3:10
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”"1 Peter 3:12
"For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."1 Peter 3:17
"so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God."1 Peter 4:2
"he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,"1 Timothy 6:4
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."1 Timothy 6:10
Translations differ in what they optimise for. Some follow the original wording closely at the cost of a natural English sentence; others read smoothly and make interpretive choices to get there. Neither is wrong, but they produce noticeably different verses.
Each of the 15 verses below is shown in the translation you asked for, and every verse links to a page comparing all six side by side — which is usually the fastest way to see where the translators disagreed.
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The most-cited Bible verses for evil (ESV) are 1 John 2:14, 1 John 3:12, 1 John 5:18. This page collects 15 of them, each with its full passage, context and the text in six translations.
Read the verse in its surrounding passage before you use it — a verse that fits in isolation sometimes says something different in context. Compare two translations where the wording is unclear, and pick for the person who will read it rather than for the theme.
Scripture returns to evil (ESV) across both testaments rather than settling it in one passage, which is why the verses on this page do not all say the same thing. Read together they give a fuller answer than any single verse does.
There is no single best translation. The NIV and NLT read most naturally and communicate well to someone outside the church; the ESV and NASB stay closer to the original wording; the KJV carries the phrasing most people recognise. Every verse here links to a page showing all six side by side.
More than any page can list. This one carries the 15 that are most often turned to for evil (ESV), chosen so each stands on its own and links through to the full chapter it belongs to.