Bible-verses-about-hate
Short answer: The Bible speaks of hate in two very different ways. Proverbs 6:16-19 says there are things Yahweh hates: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wickedness, feet quick to run to evil, a false witness, and one who sows discord among brothers. Psalm 97:10 commands believers to hate evil, while 1 John 4:20-21 forbids hating a brother. So Scripture never tells us to hate people, but it plainly tells us that God hates specific sins and that his people should share his hatred of evil. The list in Proverbs is not a picture of an unpredictable God losing his temper; it is the settled opposition of a holy God to the things that destroy human beings. The New Testament keeps that focus and tells believers to put malice away entirely.
What Proverbs 6:16-19 actually lists
The passage opens with a striking numerical saying: Proverbs 6:16 says, "There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:" The Hebrew poetry builds in intensity, moving from six to seven, a common wisdom pattern that signals completeness rather than a rounding error. The word rendered abomination is strong; it describes what God finds detestable, not merely what he mildly dislikes.
The seven items deserve to be read slowly. A proud look heads the list, then a lying tongue, then hands that shed innocent blood. Next comes a heart that devises wicked plans, then feet that are swift in running to mischief, then a false witness who breathes out lies, and finally one who sows discord among brothers. Notice that several entries are body parts: eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet. The proverb presents sin as an entire person bent in a wrong direction, not a single isolated moment.
Notice also that the last item is relational. Sowing discord among brothers closes the list, and the New Testament echoes that concern repeatedly. Discord is not a minor annoyance to God. The catalogue moves from private pride to public lies to communal division, tracing how one sin feeds another. What God hates, then, is not a random set of rules but the whole machinery by which human beings lie to each other, wound each other, and tear each other apart.
God's hatred is settled opposition, not a mood
It is easy to read the word hate and import human emotion into it. When a person hates, it is often volatile and self-focused; it flares up and fades, and it is frequently rooted in wounded pride. God's hatred is not like that. It is the settled, unchanging opposition of a holy God to whatever destroys the creatures he made in his image.
Because God is good, his hatred of evil is an expression of his goodness, not a contradiction of it. A surgeon who cuts away a tumour is not cruel; a judge who condemns a murderer is not unloving toward the victim. The psalmist ties God's love and his opposition together. Psalm 97:10 says, "You who love Yahweh, hate evil! He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked." The same verse that commands hatred of evil promises deliverance from the wicked.
This means Proverbs 6:16-19 is not a list of things that make God unpredictable or unsafe. It is a window into what he values. He hates the proud look because pride harms the proud person and everyone around him. He hates the lying tongue because lies break trust, and trust is the fabric of human life. The list is merciful in that sense: it tells us where the danger is.
Hate evil, love people: the tension Scripture holds
Perhaps the most important distinction in the Bible's teaching on hate is the difference between hating evil and hating people. Scripture commands one and forbids the other without any hesitation. Psalm 97:10 addresses believers directly: those who love Yahweh are to hate evil. Amos 5:15 pushes in the same direction, calling the people to hate evil and love good, so that justice might be established at the city gate.
Yet the New Testament is equally direct about our posture toward people. 1 John 4:20-21 states, "If a man says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" The two commands are not in conflict because they address two different things: evil, and people. Hating lies does not mean hating liars. Hating injustice does not mean despising those who practise it.
This is not a clever loophole; it is the shape of God's own character. He hates the bloodshed of Proverbs 6:17, and yet he calls sinners to repentance rather than to destruction. Ephesians 4:31 lists the things believers must put away: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice." The command is not to redirect malice toward religious enemies; it is to remove it entirely from the Christian life.
The seven things God hates, one by one
The first two items concern the inner life and speech. A proud look and a lying tongue are closely related, because pride is often what makes lying seem necessary. A person who cannot bear to be wrong will bend the truth to protect his image. Proverbs places these at the head of the list, which suggests that God sees the root as clearly as the fruit.
The middle three items address violence and plotting. Hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, and feet that are swift in running to mischief describe a progression: the planning heart, the moving feet, the violent hands. Sin is not only an impulse; it is a road, and the proverb shows how quickly one step leads to the next. The person who plans evil is already on the path that ends in bloodshed.
The final two items concern truthful testimony and community peace. A false witness who breathes out lies corrupts the justice system on which the vulnerable depend, and one who sows discord among brothers damages the community of faith. In God's eyes, both are abominations, not minor faults. The list is a portrait of a life turned against God and neighbour, and it is exactly what the gospel calls us to leave behind.
How Amos links hating evil with seeking good
Amos 5:14-15 sets the command in a context of national injustice. The prophet had just denounced courts that took bribes and markets that cheated the poor, and then he called the people to a different posture. Amos 5:14 says, "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say." The promise of God's presence is attached to a changed life, not to correct religious language.
The call to hate evil in Amos is not abstract moralising. It is aimed at elders who sat in the gate, the place where legal cases were decided, and it demanded that they hate injustice enough to stop it. This is what it looks like when professing believers claim God is with them while their conduct contradicts it. The prophet says plainly that the claim and the conduct must match.
This is a sobering text for anyone who admires Proverbs 6:16-19 as a list but does nothing about it. Hating evil is not merely avoiding personal sins; it is a positive commitment to seek good where we have influence. That could mean refusing to join in gossip, refusing to profit from dishonesty, or standing with someone who is being treated unfairly. Amos ties the promise of life to that kind of seeking.
What Jesus taught about hating enemies
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus restates a common saying and then overturns it. Matthew 5:43-44 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'" He goes on to command love for enemies and prayer for those who persecute his followers. Whatever the older teaching had become in popular usage, Jesus refuses to let hatred of people stand as a religious obligation.
This does not cancel the psalms that call God's people to hate evil, because Jesus himself is the one who will judge the world in righteousness. Rather, it clarifies the target. Evil is to be hated; people are to be loved, even when they are enemies. The two are not contradictory, because loving an enemy does not mean calling his evil good. It means desiring his repentance and good, while still naming the wrong.
Practically, this means a Christian can oppose false teaching firmly without despising the false teacher. A believer can hate the sin of gossip without writing off the gossip. That is a hard line to walk, and many sincere Christians have fallen off one side or another. The New Testament keeps the two commands side by side, and it does not apologise for the tension.
When sincere Christians disagree
Faithful believers do not all read these passages identically, and honesty requires saying so. Some emphasise the psalmist's command to hate evil and conclude that Christians should be vigorously, publicly opposed to certain sins, including in the public square. Others emphasise Jesus' teaching on enemies and 1 John's warning about hating a brother, and they stress gentleness, patience, and a reluctance to use the language of hatred for people at all.
These differences are often more about emphasis and application than about the text itself. Almost all would agree that Proverbs 6:16-19 names real sins God opposes, that Psalm 97:10 commands hatred of evil, and that 1 John 4:20-21 forbids hatred of a brother. Where they differ is in how loudly each theme is preached and how it is applied in particular disputes.
What is not legitimate is to use the Bible's language of hating evil as cover for personal contempt. Ephesians 4:31 is as much Scripture as Proverbs 6:16-19, and it commands believers to put away all malice. A professing Christian who habitually speaks of people with contempt is not simply emphasising one part of the Bible over another. He is contradicting a direct command, and the New Testament treats that contradiction as serious.
Biblical fidelity check
What Proverbs 6:16-19 establishes is that God has a settled moral opposition to specific things: pride, lying, violence, scheming, eagerness to do wrong, false testimony, and division. What it does not establish is a licence to hate human beings. The passage nowhere says God hates people; it says he hates these things, and the rest of Scripture consistently commands love for neighbours and even enemies. The list is descriptive of God's character, not a template for personal vendettas.
A common misreading treats the seven items as a checklist of respectable sins while ignoring the relational ones. Some readers focus on the violent crimes and skim past the proud look, the lying tongue, and the one who sows discord among brothers. But that last item is in the list, and it condemns the very behaviour that often accompanies religious zeal. Another misreading treats God's hatred as emotional instability, as if he were a moody parent. Scripture presents it as the steady opposition of a holy God to what destroys his creatures.
Other passages that speak to Proverbs 6:16-19
Several related studies help fill out this theme. For a broader treatment of the emotion that so often accompanies the language of hate, see Bible Verses About Anger: A Scripture-First Guide for Christians. When anger hardens into fear and anxiety, Bible Verses About Anxiety: A Scripture-First Guide for Christians and Bible Verses About Anxiety and Fear: Peace Without Pretending trace how Scripture addresses the heart behind the unrest. And for the positive call to a life shaped by God's purposes rather than by reaction, see Bible Verses About Calling: A Scripture-First Guide for Christians.
Frequently asked questions
Does God hate people?
Proverbs 6:16-19 says God hates seven specific things, not people. The rest of Scripture is consistent: God commands love for neighbours and for enemies, and 1 John 4:20-21 warns that anyone who claims to love God while hating a brother is a liar. Passages that speak of God's wrath toward the wicked describe his opposition to sin and his just judgment, not an arbitrary personal spite. The Bible's own summary of God's character is slow to anger and abounding in love, even while he does not clear the guilty.
Is it ever right for a Christian to hate?
Yes, in one specific sense. Psalm 97:10 commands those who love Yahweh to hate evil, and Amos 5:15 calls God's people to hate evil and love good. That is not a licence to hate people. Ephesians 4:31 tells believers to put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, slander, and malice. The line Scripture draws is between evil, which God's people should oppose, and human beings, whom they are commanded to love, pray for, and treat with compassion even when those people are enemies.
How do I hate sin without hating the sinner?
Begin with your own heart. The sins in Proverbs 6:16-19 include pride, lying, and sowing discord, so examine whether you are guilty of the very things you are condemning. Then pray for the person, not merely against the sin. Ephesians 4:31 puts bitterness and malice in the same list, so deal with your own resentment before you address another's fault. When you speak, aim at the wrong rather than the person's worth, and remember that God's own patience toward you is the pattern for your patience toward others.
