34 Bible Verses about Worldly Wisdom

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He who catches the wise in their craftiness,

This wisdom is not descending from above, but is earthly, world-soul, demonic.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate. And she also gave to her husband with her, and h And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Behold, he puts no trust in his servants, and he charges his [heavenly] agents with folly. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.read more.
Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.

He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be justified?

But vain man is void of understanding. Yea, man is born [as] a wild donkey's colt.

Men therefore fear him. He does not regard any who are wise of heart.

Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear LORD, and depart from evil.

Folly is joy to him who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding makes his going straight. Where there is no counsel, plans are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

The rich man is wise in his own conceit, but a poor man who has understanding searches him out.

For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left. Yea also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone [that] he is a fool.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. {I will destroy the wisdom of the wise (LXX/NT)}, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from LORD, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and, Who knows us? Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay, that the thing made should say of him who made it, He did not make me, or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?

For thou have trusted in thy wickedness. Thou have said, None sees me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted thee. And thou have said in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. Therefore evil shall come upon thee. Thou shall not know the dawning of it. And mischief shall fall upon thee. Thou shall not be able to put it away. And desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou know not.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the law of LORD. How can ye say, We are wise, and the law of LORD is with us? But, behold, the FALSE pen of the scribes has wrought falsely. The wise men are put to shame. They are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of LORD, and what manner of wisdom is in them?

Thus says LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight, says LORD.

Of Edom. Thus says LORD of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?

But if thine eye is bad, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Jesus having responded at that time, said, I extol thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and the earth, because thou hid these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to the childlike.

Because, although knowing God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but became vain in their reasonings and their heart was darkened without understanding. Professing to be wise, they became foolish, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed things, and creeping things.

And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not in eminence of speech or of wisdom proclaiming the testimony of God to you. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, even this crucified man. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.read more.
And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in wisdom of men, but in the power of God. But we speak wisdom among the fully developed, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who come to nothing. But we speak a wisdom of God in a hidden mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age know. For if they knew, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, What an eye has not seen, and an ear has not heard, and have not arisen in a heart of a man, are things that God prepared for those who love him. But God disclosed it to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of the man, except the spirit of the man in him? And so nobody knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the spirit from God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in things learned from mankind, in words of wisdom, but in things learned from Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is unable to understand because they are evaluated spiritually.

Take heed lest there will be any man taking you captive through the love of wisdom and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ.

O Timothy, keep the entrustment, avoiding the profane babblings and objections of the falsely-called knowledge, which some men professing have missed the mark concerning the faith. Grace is with thee. Truly.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. {I will destroy the wisdom of the wise (LXX/NT)}, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.

For thou have trusted in thy wickedness. Thou have said, None sees me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted thee. And thou have said in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me.

By thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou have gotten thee riches, and have gotten gold and silver into thy treasures.

Professing to be wise, they became foolish,

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will frustrate the understanding of those of understanding.

But we speak wisdom among the fully developed, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who come to nothing.

For as many as be promises of God, in him is the Yes, and in him the Truly, for glory to God through us.

Which having, are indeed a matter of wisdom in will-worship, and self-mortification, and austerity of the body--not in any value against indulgence of the flesh.