This article addresses the question of how Paul dealt with violent scriptures in the Old Testament (OT). Analyzing his usage of the OT I’ll show that Paul intentionally referenced violent OT scriptures, flipped them around by omitting the violent part, and thereby used them to declare God’s mercy and not divine violence and wrath. This way of interpreting scripture bears witness to his own theological journey away from using violencein God’s name towards rejecting divine violence and retributive justice.