58 Bible Verses about Deception

Then with curses and oaths he said, I have no knowledge of the man. And straight away there came the cry of a cock.

And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.

And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

You will send destruction on those whose words are false; the cruel man and the man of deceit are hated by the Lord.

Because a number of false teachers have gone out into the world, who do not give witness that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Such a one is a false teacher and Antichrist.

But you, O God, will send them down into the underworld; the cruel and the false will be cut off before half their days are ended; but I will have faith in you.

A true witness is the saviour of lives; but he who says false things is a cause of deceit.

As one who is off his head sends about flaming sticks and arrows of death, So is the man who gets the better of his neighbour by deceit, and says, Am I not doing so in sport?

Acting with deceit, got food together as if for a long journey; and took old food-bags for their asses, and old and cracked wine-skins kept together with cord;

And he sent them to Beth-lehem and said, Go and make certain where the young child is; and when you have seen him, let me have news of it, so that I may come and give him worship.

And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:

Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat.

So Amnon went to bed and made himself seem ill: and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make me one or two cakes before my eyes, so that I may take food from her hand.

My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.

Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.

Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

Now as to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our meeting with him, it is our desire, my brothers, That you may not be moved in mind or troubled by a spirit, or by a word, or by a letter as from us, with the suggestion that the day of the Lord is even now come; Give no belief to false words: because there will first be a falling away from the faith, and the revelation of the man of sin, the son of destruction,

Fair looks are a deceit, and a beautiful form is of no value; but a woman who has the fear of the Lord is to be praised.

The purposes of upright men are right, but the designs of evil-doers are deceit.

The wounds of a friend are given in good faith, but the kisses of a hater are false.

The wisdom of the man of good sense makes his way clear; but the unwise behaviour of the foolish is deceit.

The heart is a twisted thing, not to be searched out by man: who is able to have knowledge of it? I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts, so that I may give to every man the reward of his ways, in keeping with the fruit of his doings.

For if a man has an idea that he is something when he is nothing, he is tricked by himself. But let every man make test of his work, and then will his cause for glory be in himself only, and not in his neighbour.

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass; For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like. read more.
But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts. If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us.

For you say, I have wealth, and have got together goods and land, and have need of nothing; and you are not conscious of your sad and unhappy condition, that you are poor and blind and without clothing.

Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.

And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

The rest of Israel will do no evil and say no false words; the tongue of deceit will not be seen in their mouth: for they will take their food and their rest, and no one will be a cause of fear to them.

Do not be a violent witness against your neighbour, or let your lips say what is false.

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but after, his mouth will be full of sand.

For if a man has an idea that he is something when he is nothing, he is tricked by himself.

And Absalom and the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him. Then Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom and said, Long life to the king, long life to the king! And Absalom said, Is this your love for your friend? why did you not go with your friend? read more.
And Hushai said to Absalom, Not so; I am for that man whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have taken as king, and I will take my place with him. And more than this! where is my place as a servant? is it not before his son? as I have been your father's servant, so will I be yours.

Then David got up and went in flight that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David, the king of the land? did they not make songs about him in their dances, saying, Saul has put to death thousands, and David tens of thousands? And David took these words to heart, fearing Achish, the king of Gath. read more.
So changing his behaviour before them, he made it seem as if he was off his head, hammering on the doors of the town, and letting the water from his mouth go down his chin. Then Achish said to his servants, Look! the man is clearly off his head; why have you let him come before me? Are there not enough unbalanced men about me, that you have let this person come and do such tricks before me? is such a man to come into my house?

And Absalom came to the king and said, See now, your servant is cutting the wool of his sheep; will the king and his servants be pleased to come? And the king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not all go, or the number will be over-great for you. And he made his request again, but he would not go, but he gave him his blessing. Then Absalom said, If you will not go, then let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Is there any reason for him to go with you? read more.
But Absalom went on requesting him till he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. And Absalom made a great feast like a feast for a king. Now Absalom had given orders to his servants, saying, Now take note when Amnon's heart is glad with wine; and when I say to you, Make an attack on Amnon, then put him to death without fear: have I not given you orders? be strong and without fear.

As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.

Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief, He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do? Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death, read more.
And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not? And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end. Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.

But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister. And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us: But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision; read more.
Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people. But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go. And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem. And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house. Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town, It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters. But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done. Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us. Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision. But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death. And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away. And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister; They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields, And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people. But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?

So Amnon went to bed and made himself seem ill: and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make me one or two cakes before my eyes, so that I may take food from her hand. Then David sent to the house for Tamar and said, Go now to your brother Amnon's house and get a meal for him. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was in bed. And she took paste and made cakes before his eyes, cooking them over the fire. read more.
And she took the cooking-pot, and put the cakes before him, but he would not take them. And Amnon said, Let everyone go away from me. So they all went out. Then Amnon said to Tamar, Take the food and come into my bedroom, so that I may take it from your hand. So Tamar took the cakes she had made and went with them into her brother Amnon's bedroom. And when she took them to give them to him, he put his arms round her and said, Come to bed, my sister. And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing. What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you. But he would not give attention to what she said: but being stronger than she, he took her by force, and had connection with her.

And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing, Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death. Now, my son, do what I say. read more.
Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste: And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth: If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing. And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me. So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste. And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son: And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck: And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready. And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son? And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing. And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way. And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not. And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

And the men of Gibeon, hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, Acting with deceit, got food together as if for a long journey; and took old food-bags for their asses, and old and cracked wine-skins kept together with cord; And put old stitched-up shoes on their feet, and old clothing on their backs; and all the food they had with them was dry and broken up. read more.
And they came to Joshua to the tent-circle at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country: so now make an agreement with us. And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, It may be that you are living among us; how then may we make an agreement with you? And they said to Joshua, We are your servants. Then Joshua said to them, Who are you and where do you come from? And they said to him, Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God: for the story of his great name, and of all he did in Egypt has come to our ears, And what he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of Jordan, to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, at Ashtaroth. So the responsible men and all the people of our country said to us, Take food with you for the journey and go to them, and say to them, We are your servants: so now make an agreement with us. This bread which we have with us for our food, we took warm and new from our houses when starting on our journey to you; but now see, it has become dry and broken up. And these wine-skins were new when we put the wine in them, and now they are cracked as you see; and our clothing and our shoes have become old because of our very long journey here. And the men took some of their food, without requesting directions from the Lord. So Joshua made peace with them, and made an agreement with them that they were not to be put to death: and the chiefs of the people took an oath to them.

Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab. So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe. And he took the offering to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man. read more.
And after giving the offering, he sent away the people who had come with the offering. But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out. Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat. And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach; And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ... Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them. Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose. And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor. But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah. And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head. And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across. At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away. So Moab was broken that day under the hand of Israel. And for eighty years the land had peace.

Now after this, he was in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, named Delilah. And the chiefs of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Make use of your power over him and see what is the secret of his great strength, and how we may get the better of him, and put bands on him, so that we may make him feeble; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver. So Delilah said to Samson, Make clear to me now what is the secret of your great strength, and how you may be put in bands and made feeble. read more.
And Samson said to her, If seven new bow-cords which have never been made dry are knotted round me, I will become feeble and will be like any other man. So the chiefs of the Philistines gave her seven new bow-cords which had never been made dry, and she had them tightly knotted round him. Now she had men waiting secretly in the inner room; and she said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And the cords were broken by him as a twist of thread is broken when touched by a flame. So the secret of his strength did not come to light. Then Delilah said to Samson, See, you have been making sport of me with false words; now, say truly how may you be put in bands? And he said to her, If they only put round me new thick cords which have never been used, then I will become feeble and will be like any other man. So Delilah took new thick cords, knotting them tightly round him, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And men were waiting secretly in the inner room. And the cords were broken off his arms like threads. Then Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have made sport of me with false words; now say truly, how may you be put in bands? And he said to her, If you get the seven twists of my hair worked into the cloth you are making and fixed with the pin, I will become feeble and will be like any other man. So while he was sleeping she got the seven twists of his hair worked into her cloth and fixed with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. Then awaking from his sleep, he got up quickly, pulling up cloth and machine together. And she said to him, Why do you say you are my lover when your heart is not mine? Three times you have made sport of me, and have not made clear to me the secret of your great strength. So day after day she gave him no peace, for ever questioning him till his soul was troubled to death. And opening all his heart to her, he said to her, My head has never been touched by a blade, for I have been separate to God from the day of my birth: if my hair is cut off, then my strength will go from me and I will become feeble, and will be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had let her see into his heart, she sent word to the chiefs of the Philistines saying, Come up this time, for he has let out all his heart to me. Then the chiefs of the Philistines came to her, with the money in their hands. And she made him go to sleep on her knees; and she sent for a man and had his seven twists of hair cut off; and while it was being done he became feeble and his strength went from him. Then she said, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And awaking from his sleep, he said, I will go out as at other times, shaking myself free. But he was not conscious that the Lord had gone from him.

If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

For he takes comfort in the thought that his sin will not be uncovered and hated.

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.

If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us.

Then he said to him, I am a prophet like you; and an angel said to me by the word of the Lord, Take him back with you and give him food and water. But he said false words to him.

My friends have been false like a stream, like streams in the valleys which come to an end:

Now at the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, Let me go to Hebron and give effect to the oath which I made to the Lord:

And they sent to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we see that you are true, and that you are teaching the true way of God, and have no fear of anyone, because you have no respect for a man's position.

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Now my master has taken nothing from Naaman, this Aramaean, of what he would have given him: by the living Lord, I will go after him and get something from him.

And a certain teacher of the law got up and put him to the test, saying, Master, what have I to do so that I may have eternal life?

And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes made designs how they might take him by deceit and put him to death:

Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, got money for his property,

And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:

And he sent them to Beth-lehem and said, Go and make certain where the young child is; and when you have seen him, let me have news of it, so that I may come and give him worship.