11 Bible Verses about Irony

Most Relevant Verses

1 Kings 18:27

And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake.

Isaiah 44:12-19

The iron-worker is heating the metal in the fire, giving it form with his hammers, and working on it with his strong arm: then for need of food his strength gives way, and for need of water he becomes feeble. The woodworker is measuring out the wood with his line, marking it out with his pencil: after smoothing it with his plane, and making circles on it with his instrument, he gives it the form and glory of a man, so that it may be placed in the house. He has cedars cut down for himself, he takes an oak and lets it get strong among the trees of the wood; he has an ash-tree planted, and the rain gives it growth.read more.
Then it will be used to make a fire, so that a man may get warm; he has the oven heated with it and makes bread: he makes a god with it, to which he gives worship: he makes a pictured image out of it, and goes down on his face before it. With part of it he makes a fire, and on the fire he gets meat cooked and takes a full meal: he makes himself warm, and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his pictured image: he goes down on his face before it, giving worship to it, and making prayer to it, saying, Be my saviour; for you are my god. They have no knowledge or wisdom; for he has put a veil over their eyes, so that they may not see; and on their hearts, so that they may not give attention. And no one takes note, no one has enough knowledge or wisdom to say, I have put part of it in the fire, and made bread on it; I have had a meal of the flesh cooked with it: and am I now to make the rest of it into a false god? am I to go down on my face before a bit of wood?

Job 12:2

No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.

Job 16:2-3

Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble. May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?

Jeremiah 34:17

And so the Lord has said, You have not given ear to me and undertaken publicly, every man to let loose his countryman and his neighbour: see, I undertake to let loose against you the sword and disease and need of food; and I will send you wandering among all the kingdoms of the earth.

Judges 9:1-21

Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's family, and said to them and to all the family of his mother's father, Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh. So his mother's family said all this about him in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem: and their hearts were turned to Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.read more.
And they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech got the support of a number of uncontrolled and good-for-nothing persons. Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and put his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, to death on the same stone; however, Jotham, the youngest, kept himself safe by going away to a secret place. And all the townsmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech their king, by the oak of the pillar in Shechem. Now Jotham, on hearing of it, went to the top of Mount Gerizim, and crying out with a loud voice said to them, Give ear to me, you townsmen of Shechem, so that God may give ear to you. One day the trees went out to make a king for themselves; and they said to the olive-tree, Be king over us. But the olive-tree said to them, Am I to give up my wealth of oil, by which men give honour to God, and go waving over the trees? Then the trees said to the fig-tree, You come and be king over us. But the fig-tree said to them, Am I to give up my sweet taste and my good fruit and go waving over the trees? Then the trees said to the vine, You come and be king over us. But the vine said to them, Am I to give up my wine, which makes glad God and men, to go waving over the trees? Then all the trees said to the thorn, You come and be king over us. And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon. So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands; (For my father made war for you, and put his life in danger, and made you free from the hands of Midian; And you have gone against my father's family this day, and have put to death his sons, even seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his servant-wife, king over the townsmen of Shechem because he is your brother;) If then you have done what is true and upright to Jerubbaal and his family this day, may you have joy in Abimelech, and may he have joy in you; But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech, burning up the townsmen of Shechem and Beth-millo; and may fire come out from the townsmen of Shechem and Beth-millo, for the destruction of Abimelech. Then Jotham straight away went in flight to Beer, and was living there for fear of his brother Abimelech.

1 Corinthians 4:7-14

For who made you better than your brother? or what have you that has not been given to you? but if it has been given to you, what cause have you for pride, as if it had not been given to you? For even now you are full, even now you have wealth, you have been made kings without us: truly, I would be glad if you were kings, so that we might be kings with you. For it seems to me that God has put us the Apostles last of all, as men whose fate is death: for we are put on view to the world, and to angels, and to men.read more.
We are made to seem foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are feeble, but you are strong; you have glory, but we have shame. Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place; And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now. I am not saying these things to put you to shame, but so that, as my dear children, you may see what is right.

2 Samuel 6:20

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!

Mark 2:17

And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill: I have come not to get the upright but sinners.

Mark 15:17-19

And they put a purple robe on him, and twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him; And, as if honouring him, they said, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows on the head with a stick and put shame on him and, going down on their knees, gave him worship.

Acts 26:28

And Agrippa said to Paul, A little more and you will be making me a Christian.

From Thematic Bible


Irony » Instances of » The roman soldiers to jesus

Luke 23:11

And Herod, with the men of his army, put shame on him and made sport of him, and dressing him in shining robes, he sent him back to Pilate.

Matthew 27:29

And they made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and put a rod in his right hand, and they went down on their knees before him, and made sport of him, saying, Long life to the King of the Jews.

Mark 15:17-19

And they put a purple robe on him, and twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him; And, as if honouring him, they said, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows on the head with a stick and put shame on him and, going down on their knees, gave him worship.

John 19:2-3

And the men of the army made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. And they kept coming and saying, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows with their hands.

Irony » Instances of » The inscription of pilate above jesus

John 19:19

And Pilate put on the cross a statement in writing. The writing was: JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Mark 15:26

And the statement of his crime was put in writing on the cross, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Irony » Instances of » Pilate, calling jesus "king,"

John 19:15

Then they gave a loud cry, Away with him! away with him! to the cross! Pilate said to them, Am I to put your King to death on the cross? The chief priests said in answer, We have no king but Caesar.

Mark 15:19

And they gave him blows on the head with a stick and put shame on him and, going down on their knees, gave him worship.

Irony » Instances of » Ezekiel to the prince of tyre

Ezekiel 28:3-5

See, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret which is deeper than your knowledge: By your wisdom and deep knowledge you have got power for yourself, and put silver and gold in your store-houses: By your great wisdom and by your trade your power is increased, and your heart is lifted up because of your power:

Irony » Instances of » Elijah to the priests of baal

1 Kings 18:27

And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake.

Irony » Instances of » Micaiah

1 Kings 22:15

When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And in answer he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.

Irony » Instances of » The pharisees and the herodians to jesus

Matthew 22:16

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.

Irony » Instances of » Job to his accusers

Job 12:2

No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.

Irony » Instances of » Michal to david

2 Samuel 6:20

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!

Irony » Instances of » Herod agrippa ii to paul

Acts 26:28

And Agrippa said to Paul, A little more and you will be making me a Christian.

Irony » Instances of » Jesus to the pharisees

Mark 2:17

And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill: I have come not to get the upright but sinners.

Irony » Instances of » Amos to the samaritans

Amos 4:4

Come to Beth-el and do evil; to Gilgal, increasing the number of your sins; come with your offerings every morning and your tenths every three days:

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Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain