“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
King James Version (KJV)
5:12 Your reward - Even over and above the happiness that naturally and directly results from holiness.
Mt 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. On account of persecution. The reason why they may justly rejoice is given: "Great is your reward in heaven". So they persecuted the prophets. Isaiah is said to have been sawed asunder; Jeremiah was thrown into a dungeon and threatened with death; Elijah was hunted by Ahab and Jezebel.