26 Bible Verses about Bad Decision Making Examples

When the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food and that it [was] a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make [one] wise, then she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave [it] also to her husband with her, and he ate.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it happened [that] as he drew near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "Look now, I know that you are a woman beautiful of appearance, and it shall happen [that], if the Egyptians see you, then they will say, 'This [is] his wife,' then they will kill me but let you live.read more.
Please say you are my sister so that it will go well for me on your account. {Then I will live} on account of you."

And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it [was] well-watered land--[this was] before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah--like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt {in the direction of} Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan. And Lot journeyed from the east, and so they separated {from each other}.

Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had borne him no children. And she had a female Egyptian servant, and her name [was] Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, "Look, please, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my servant; perhaps {I will have children by her}." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife.

And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered opposite Aaron, and they said to him, "Come, make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that [are] on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring [it] to me." And all the people took off the rings of gold that [were] on their ears and brought [it] to Aaron.read more.
And he took from their hand, and he shaped it with a tool, and he made it a cast-image bull calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

And the men who went up with him said, "We are not able to go up to the people because they [are] stronger than us."

Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, the descendants of Reuben, took two hundred and fifty men from the {Israelites}, leaders of the community summoned from the assembly, {renowned men}, and {they confronted} Moses. They were assembled in front of Moses and Aaron, and they said to them, "{You take too much upon yourselves}! All of the community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh [is] in their midst, so why do you raise yourselves over the assembly of Yahweh?"

I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold [that] weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They [are] hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver [is] under it."

But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you." And Gideon said to them, "{Let me make a request of you}, that each of you give to me an ornamental ring from his plunder." (They [had] ornamental rings of gold, because they [were] Ishmaelites.) They said, "We will gladly give [them]," and they spread out a garment, and everyone threw there an ornamental ring of his plunder.read more.
The weight of the ornamental rings of gold that he requested [was] one thousand seven hundred [shekels of] gold, apart from the crescents, pendants, and purple garments that [were] on the kings of Midian, and apart from the pendants that [were] on the necks of their camels. Gideon made an ephod [out of] it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted [themselves] to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a wife among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must take a wife from [the] uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Take her for me because {she pleases me}."

Samson went down to Gaza; there he saw a prostitute and {had sex with her}.

He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and {the army started to slip away from him}. So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering.

It happened {late one afternoon} [that] David got up from his bed and walked about on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on her roof. Now the woman {was very beautiful}. David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house.

But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were {serving} before him. He said to them, "What [are] you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us.'" Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten [it] for us,' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.read more.
So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!'" Jeroboam and all of the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken: "Return to me on the third day." Then the king answered all the people harshly, [as] he had rejected the advice of the old men that they had offered. He spoke to them according to the advice of the youngsters, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add onto your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from Yahweh in order to fulfill his word which Yahweh had spoken through the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up [because] Jehoiakim had become his servant [for] three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

Because their mother was unfaithful; she who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she said: "I will go after my lovers, the ones who give [me] my bread, my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink."

And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up {before me}." But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from {the presence of} Yahweh. And he went down [to] Joppa and found a merchant ship going [to] Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from {the presence of} Yahweh.

But he looked gloomy at the statement [and] went away sorrowful, {because he had} many possessions.

And after not many days, the younger son gathered everything [and] went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth [by] living wastefully.

Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles.

And [when] two years had passed, Felix received as successor Porcius Festus. And [because he] wanted to do a favor for the Jews, Felix left Paul behind {as a prisoner}.

Then one of the twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests [and] said, "What are you willing to give me if I in turn deliver him to you?" So they set out for him thirty silver coins. And from that time on, he began seeking a favorable opportunity in order that he could betray him.

And Judas Iscariot, who [was] one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And [when] they heard [this], they were delighted, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how he could betray him conveniently.

And he went away [and] discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he could betray him to them. And they were delighted, and came to an agreement with him to give [him] money. And he agreed, and began looking for a favorable opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd.

And as soon as morning [came], [after] formulating a plan, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes and the whole Sanhedrin, tied up Jesus, led [him] away, and handed [him] over to Pilate.

Now [when it] was early morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus in order to put him to death. And [after] tying him up, they led [him] away and handed [him] over to Pilate the governor.