16 Bible Verses about Pretending

Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled {in the direction of the wilderness}.

But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, and they acted on their part with cunning: they went and prepared provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys and old wineskins [that were] torn and mended. The sandals on their feet [were] patched and old, their clothes [were] old, and their food was dry and crumbled.read more.
And they went to Joshua at the camp [at] Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far land; so then {make a covenant with us}." And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you [are] living among us; how can we {make a covenant} with you?" They said to Joshua, "We [are] your servants." And Joshua said to them, "Who [are] you, and from where do you come?" And they said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far land because of the name of Yahweh your God; we have heard of his reputation, of all that he did in Egypt, and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan--to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who [was] in Ashtaroth. So our elders said to us and all the inhabitants of our land, 'Take in your hand provisions for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, "We [are] your servants; so then {make a covenant with us}." ' This [is] our bread; [it was] hot [when] we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and crumbled. These [are] the wineskins that we filled new, but look, they have burst; and these [are] our clothes and sandals that have worn out from the very long journey."

And Joshua summoned them and said, "Why have you deceived us saying, 'We [are] very far from you' when you [are] living among us?

So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard.

Then Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and appear ill. If your father comes to see you, you shall say to him, 'Please let Tamar my sister come and give me food to eat, and let her prepare the food before my eyes, in order that I may see it and eat from her hand.'"

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and the king came to see him. Amnon said to the king, "Please let Tamar my sister come, and let her bake two cakes before my eyes that I may eat from her hand."

So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}.

Children of a foreign land came cringing to me; {when they heard of me}, they became obedient to me.

as soon as {they heard}, they obeyed me. [The] children of a foreign land feigned obedience before me.

Then Yahweh said to Ahijah, "Look, the wife of Jeroboam [is] coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he [is] ill. {Thus and so} you shall say to her. When she comes, she [will be] disguising herself."

It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, "Come [in], wife of Jeroboam. Why [are] you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard [message] for you:

There is one who acts rich but {has nothing}; another who pretends to be poor but [has] wealth.

who devour the houses of widows and pray lengthy [prayers] for the sake of appearance. These will receive more severe condemnation!"

And [when] the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship's boat into the sea, pretending as if they were going to lay out anchors from the bow,

I do not sit with deceitful people, nor will I go about with hypocrites.

And they watched [him] closely [and] sent spies who pretended they were upright, in order that they could catch him in a statement, so that they could hand him over to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor.