100 Bible Verses about Stupidity

Proverbs 12:1 ESV / 204 helpful votes

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Romans 1:22 ESV / 145 helpful votes

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Proverbs 14:16-18 ESV / 111 helpful votes

One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless. A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated. The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Proverbs 14:7-9 ESV / 101 helpful votes

Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving. Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance.

Psalm 14:1 ESV / 90 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

Jeremiah 4:22 ESV / 78 helpful votes

“For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 77 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

2 Timothy 3:7 ESV / 75 helpful votes

Always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

2 Timothy 2:23-24 ESV / 73 helpful votes

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

Proverbs 28:26 ESV / 71 helpful votes

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

John 8:32 ESV / 70 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 60 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Luke 1:37 ESV / 60 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV / 57 helpful votes

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 54 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Ecclesiastes 7:25 ESV / 53 helpful votes

I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.

Matthew 10:16 ESV / 49 helpful votes

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 48 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 48 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...

Proverbs 9:13 ESV / 43 helpful votes

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 42 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 3:16 ESV / 42 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jeremiah 10:8-9 ESV / 42 helpful votes

They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.

Proverbs 15:21 ESV / 42 helpful votes

Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.

Matthew 5:22 ESV / 41 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jeremiah 10:14 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.

Proverbs 26:11 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 40 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Proverbs 13:16 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.

Deuteronomy 23:1 ESV / 40 helpful votes

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

John 10:10 ESV / 38 helpful votes

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Ezekiel 23:19-20 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses.

Job 11:12 ESV / 38 helpful votes

But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV / 38 helpful votes

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Numbers 31:17-18 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Ezekiel 16:17 ESV / 37 helpful votes

You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.

Isaiah 19:11 ESV / 37 helpful votes

The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

Psalm 94:8 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?

Genesis 6:4 ESV / 37 helpful votes

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 35 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Matthew 10:34 ESV / 35 helpful votes

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

John 14:6 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Luke 11:28 ESV / 34 helpful votes

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Jeremiah 10:21 ESV / 34 helpful votes

For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Proverbs 14:8 ESV / 34 helpful votes

The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.

Luke 14:26 ESV / 33 helpful votes

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 33 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Ezekiel 5:10 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 33 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 17:12 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 ESV / 33 helpful votes

“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

Jeremiah 51:17 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.

Psalm 137:9 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Job 18:3 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?

2 Timothy 2:14 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Galatians 5:12 ESV / 29 helpful votes

I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Romans 12:2 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ecclesiastes 10:19 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.

Proverbs 11:22 ESV / 28 helpful votes

Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

Proverbs 21:9 ESV / 27 helpful votes

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

Proverbs 14:17 ESV / 27 helpful votes

A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.

Deuteronomy 23:2 ESV / 27 helpful votes

“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Genesis 25:30 ESV / 27 helpful votes

And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)

Matthew 21:18-22 ESV / 26 helpful votes

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Jonah 2:10 ESV / 26 helpful votes

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Ezekiel 4:12-15 ESV / 26 helpful votes

And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.”

Song of Solomon 4:2 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young.

Song of Solomon 2:4 ESV / 26 helpful votes

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

Proverbs 31:6 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;

Genesis 22:20-21 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

Acts 20:9-10 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 25 helpful votes

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

1 Corinthians 1:1-31 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ...

Acts 2:15 ESV / 23 helpful votes

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

Deuteronomy 21:1-23 ESV / 23 helpful votes

“If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. ...

Proverbs 14:18 ESV / 20 helpful votes

The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Jeremiah 10:8 ESV / 18 helpful votes

They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

Proverbs 28:15 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

Ecclesiastes 2:13 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.

Galatians 5:4 ESV / 13 helpful votes

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Proverbs 9:13-17 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

1 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

Galatians 5:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 5:8 ESV / 11 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Proverbs 30:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.

Proverbs 27:12 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

James 4:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

James 1:5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

1 Corinthians 1:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 12:15-25 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit. There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. ...

Titus 3:9 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

2 Timothy 2:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,

1 Timothy 1:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

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