47 Bible Verses about Criticism, against believers

Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill-country; and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill-country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war? Why did you make a secret of your flight, not giving me word of it, so that I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with melody and music?read more.
You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters. This was a foolish thing to do. It is in my power to do you damage: but the God of your father came to me this night, saying, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob. And now, it seems, you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house; but why have you taken my gods?

And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife? Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.read more.
And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.

And Sarai said to Abram, May my wrong be on you: I gave you my servant for your wife and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for me: may the Lord be judge between you and me.

Then Abimelech sent for Abraham, and said, What have you done to us? what wrong have I done you that you have put on me and on my kingdom so great a sin? You have done to me things which are not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, Why did you do this thing?

Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister; and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children I will not go on living. But Jacob was angry with Rachel, and said, Am I in the place of God, who has kept your body from having fruit?

And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water?

Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people. And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand. And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother?read more.
And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light.

Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before. And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh: And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.

And they said to Moses, Was there no resting-place for the dead in Egypt, that you have taken us away to come to our death in the waste land? why have you taken us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, Let us be as we are, working for the Egyptians? for it is better to be the servants of the Egyptians than to come to our death in the waste land.

And the people, crying out against Moses, said, What are we to have for drink?

And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the waste land:

Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife. And they said, Have the words of the Lord been given to Moses only? have they not come to us? And the Lord took note of it.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready, And came before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the people, men of good name who had a place in the meeting of the people. They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord?

And Eliab, his oldest brother, hearing what David said to the men, was moved to wrath against David, and said, Why have you come here? Into whose care have you given that little flock of sheep in the waste land? I have knowledge of your pride and the evil of your heart, you have come down to see the fight.

And when the ark of the Lord came into the town of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looking out of the window, saw King David dancing and jumping before the Lord; and to her mind he seemed foolish. And they took in the ark of the Lord, and put it in its place inside the tent which David had put up for it: and David made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord. And after David had made the burned offerings and the peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord of armies.read more.
And he gave to every man and woman among all the people, among all the masses of Israel, a cake of bread and a measure of wine and a cake of dry grapes. Then all the people went away, every man to his house. Then David came back to give a blessing to his family. And Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to him and said, How full of glory was the king of Israel today, who let himself be seen uncovered by his servant-girls like a foolish person uncovering himself without shame! And David said to Michal, I was dancing before the Lord, who put me over your father and all his sons, to make me a ruler over the people of the Lord, over his people Israel: and I will go on playing before the Lord; And I will do even worse than this, and make myself even lower in your eyes: but the servant-girls of whom you were talking will give me honour. And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child till the day of her death.

Now after this, Absalom got for himself a carriage and horses, and fifty runners to go before him. And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and took his place at the side of the public meeting-place: and when any man had a cause which had to come to the king to be judged, then Absalom, crying out to him, said, What is your town? and he would say, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom would say to him, See, your cause is true and right; but no man has been named by the king to give you a hearing.read more.
And more than this, Absalom said, If only I was made judge in the land, so that every man who has any cause or question might come to me, and I would give a right decision for him!

Then Bildad the Shuhite made answer and said, How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

Then Zophar the Naamathite made answer and said, Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk? Are your words of pride to make men keep quiet? and are you to make sport, with no one to put you to shame?read more.
You may say, My way is clean, and I am free from sin in your eyes. But if only God would take up the word, opening his lips in argument with you; And would make clear to you the secrets of wisdom, and the wonders of his purpose!

And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said, Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind? Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value?read more.
Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry. For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself. It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you.

For every word I say is a cry for help; I say with a loud voice, Violent behaviour and wasting: because the word of the Lord is made a shame to me and a cause of laughing all the day.

And when he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel?

Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you? And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king's son;read more.
And say, It is the king's order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace.

Then Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos has made designs against you among the people of Israel: the land is troubled by his words. For Amos has said, Jeroboam will be put to the sword, and Israel will certainly be taken away as a prisoner out of his land. And Amaziah said to Amos, O seer, go in flight into the land of Judah, and there get your living by working as a prophet:

And he went into a house. And the people came together again, so that they were not even able to take bread. And when his friends had news of it, they went out to get him, saying, He is off his head.

And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow.

But the feast of the Jews, the feast of tents, was near. So his brothers said to him, Go away from here into Judaea so that your disciples may see the works which you do. Because no man does things secretly if he has a desire that men may have knowledge of him. If you do these things, let yourself be seen by all men.read more.
For even his brothers had no belief in him.

And he himself was in the back of the boat, sleeping on the cushion: and they, awaking him, said, Master, is it nothing to you that we are in danger of destruction?

From that time Jesus went on to make clear to his disciples how he would have to go up to Jerusalem, and undergo much at the hands of those in authority and the chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and the third day come again from the dead. And Peter, protesting, said to him, Be it far from you, Lord; it is impossible that this will come about. But he, turning to Peter, said, Get out of my way, Satan: you are a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.

And teaching them, he said that the Son of man would have to undergo much, and be hated by those in authority, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be put to death, and after three days come back from the dead. And he said this openly. And Peter took him, and was protesting. But he, turning about, and seeing his disciples, said sharply to Peter, Get out of my way, Satan: for your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.

But Martha had her hands full of the work of the house, and she came to him and said, Lord, is it nothing to you that my sister has let me do all the work? Say to her that she is to give me some help.

Then, hearing this, a number of his disciples said, This is a hard saying; who is able to take in such teaching? When Jesus became conscious that his disciples were protesting about what he said, he said to them, Does this give you trouble?

So he came to Simon Peter. Peter said, Lord, are my feet to be washed by you? And Jesus, answering, said to him, What I do is not clear to you now, but it will be clear to you in time to come. Peter said, I will never let my feet be washed by you, never. Jesus said in answer, If I do not make you clean you have no part with me.read more.
Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.

And it came about, when he was in the house taking food, that a number of tax-farmers and sinners came and took their places with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners?

And it came about that he was seated at meat in his house, and a number of tax-farmers and sinners were at table with Jesus and his disciples: for there were a great number of them, and they came after him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was taking food with the tax-farmers and sinners, said to his disciples, Why does he take food and drink with such men?

And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners?

At that time Jesus went through the fields on the Sabbath day; and his disciples, being in need of food, were taking the heads of grain. But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, See, your disciples do that which it is not right to do on the Sabbath.

And it came about that on the Sabbath day he was going through the grain-fields; and while they were walking, his disciples took the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, Why are they doing what it is not right to do on the Sabbath?

Now it came about that on the Sabbath he was going through the fields of grain, and his disciples took the heads of the grain for food, crushing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what it is not right to do on the Sabbath?

Now all the tax-farmers and sinners came near to give ear to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were angry, saying, This man gives approval to sinners, and takes food with them.

Now the Jews said bitter things about Jesus because of his words, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have seen? How is it then that he now says, I have come down from heaven?

And some of the scribes said among themselves, This man has no respect for God.

But there were certain of the scribes seated there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man say such things? he has no respect for God: from whom does forgiveness come but from God only?

And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?

The Jews said to him, Now we are certain that you have an evil spirit. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead; and you say, If a man keeps my word he will never see death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead: who do you say that you are?

And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the Temple, got the people together and put their hands on him, Crying out, Men of Israel, come to our help: this is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place: and in addition, he has taken Greeks into the Temple, and made this holy place unclean.

But when Gallio was ruler of Achaia, all the Jews together made an attack on Paul, and took him to the judge's seat, Saying, This man is teaching the people to give worship to God in a way which is against the law.

For his letters, they say, have weight and are strong; but in body he is feeble, and his way of talking has little force.