47 Bible Verses about Blame

And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”

Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”

So the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, nor is there any water, and we loathe this miserable food.”

They came to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, “This is what the entire congregation of the Lord says, ‘What is this disloyal and unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, so as to turn away from following the Lord this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the Lord this day? Is the wrongdoing (idolatry) of Peor not enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, even though the affliction [in which twenty-four thousand died] came on the congregation of the Lord, read more.
that you would turn away this day from following the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, He will be angry with the entire congregation of Israel tomorrow.

Saul said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so he would rebel against me by lying in ambush, as he does this day?” Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is as faithful and trustworthy as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and who is captain over your guard [and your confidant], and is honored in your house? Did I just begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! Do not let the king impute any guilt to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing at all about this entire matter.”

Then Abner was very angry at the words of Ish-bosheth, and he said, “Am I a dog’s head [a despicable traitor] that belongs to Judah? Today I show loyalty and kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and his friends, by not having you handed over to David; and yet you charge me today with guilt concerning this woman.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you the one who is bringing disaster on Israel?” Elijah said, “I have not brought disaster on Israel, but you and your father’s household have, by abandoning (rejecting) the commandments of the Lord and by following the Baals.

There were also others who were saying, “We have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards for the [Persian] king’s [heavy] tax. Now our flesh (skin) is the same as that of our brothers (relatives), and our children are like their children, yet here we are forcing (selling) our sons and our daughters to be slaves; and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are powerless [to redeem them] because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

“But now adversity comes upon you, and you are impatient and intolerant;
It touches you, and you are horrified.

“Is not your fear of God your confidence,
And [is not] the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?
“Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished?
Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?

Then, if you are pure and upright,
Surely now He will awaken for you
And restore your righteous place.

If sin is in your hand, put it far away [from you],
And do not let wrongdoing dwell in your tents;

Then, indeed, you could lift up your face [to Him] without moral defect,
And you would be firmly established and secure and not fear.

Therefore the princes (court officials) said to the king, “Please [we implore you] let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [speaking] in this way he discourages and weakens [the will of] the soldiers who remain in this city and he discourages and weakens [the will of] all the people by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but rather their harm.”

While He was passing by, He noticed a man [who had been] blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

Now about this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, a complaint was made by the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) against the [native] Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.

I did not sit with the group of those who celebrate,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me,
For You had filled me with indignation [at their sin].

Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brook
With water that is unreliable?

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!”

“Why is the light of day given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?

How long must I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy exalt himself and triumph over me?

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.

But now You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And You do not go out with our armies [to lead us to victory].

You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.
read more.

You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.

You have made us the reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.

You make us a byword among the nations,
A laughingstock among the people.

My dishonor is before me all day long,
And humiliation has covered my face,

Because of the voice of the taunter and reviler,
Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].

Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,

Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackals
And covered us with [the deep darkness of] the shadow of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god,

Would not God discover this?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, do not reject us forever.

Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?

For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

Rise up! Come be our help,
And ransom us for the sake of Your steadfast love.

O God, You have rejected us and cast us off. You have broken [down our defenses and scattered] us;
You have been angry; O restore us and turn again to us.

You have made the land quake, You have split it open;
Heal its rifts, for it shakes and totters.

You have made Your people experience hardship;
You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger and fall.

O God, why have You rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
Remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

Turn your footsteps [quickly] toward the perpetual ruins;
The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
read more.

In the midst of Your meeting place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry];
They have set up their own emblems for signs [of victory].

It seems as if one had lifted up
An axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].

And now all the carved work [of the meeting place]
They smash with hatchets and hammers.

They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
They have profaned the dwelling place of Your name.

They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our symbols;
There is no longer any prophet [to guide us],
Nor does any among us know for how long.

O God, how long will the adversary scoff?
Is the enemy to revile Your name forever?

Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand [from judging the enemy]?
Remove Your hand from Your chest, destroy them!
Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

You divided the [Red] Sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt);
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

You broke open fountains and streams;
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.

The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have established and prepared the [heavenly] light and the sun.

You have defined and established all the borders of the earth [the divisions of land and sea and of the nations];
You have made summer and winter.
Remember this, O Lord, the enemy has scoffed,
And a foolish and impious people has spurned Your name.

Oh, do not hand over the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

Consider the covenant [You made with Abraham],
For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

Let not the oppressed return dishonored;
Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.
Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man scoffs at You all day long.

Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries,
The uproar of those who rise against You, which ascends continually [to Your ears].

O God, the nations have invaded [the land of Your people] Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your sacred temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.
read more.

We have become an object of taunting to our neighbors [because of our humiliation],
A derision and mockery to those who encircle us.

How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?

Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?

However, God finds fault with them [showing its inadequacy] when He says,

“Behold, the days will come, says the Lord,
When I will make and ratify a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

You will say to me then, “Why does He still blame me [for sinning]? For who [including myself] has [ever] resisted His will and purpose?”

Do not quarrel with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm.

Let those who attack my life be ashamed and consumed;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me.

He clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
And it seeped into his inner self like water
And like [anointing] oil into his bones.

Let it be to him as a robe with which he covers himself,
And as a sash with which he is constantly bound.

Let this be the reward of my attackers from the Lord,
And of those who speak evil against my life.

As for the one whose faith is weak, accept him [into your fellowship], but not for [the purpose of] quarreling over his opinions. One man’s faith permits him to eat everything, while the weak believer eats only vegetables [to avoid eating ritually unclean meat or something previously considered unclean]. The one who eats [everything] is not to look down on the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not criticize or pass judgment on the one who eats [everything], for God has accepted him. read more.
Who are you to judge the servant of another? Before his own master he stands [approved] or falls [out of favor]. And he [who serves the Master—the Lord] will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Therefore, [continue to] accept and welcome one another, just as Christ has accepted and welcomed us to the glory of [our great] God.

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And I did not hide my wickedness;
I said, “I will confess [all] my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them;
My sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned
And done that which is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak [Your sentence]
And faultless in Your judgment.
I was brought forth in [a state of] wickedness;
In sin my mother conceived me [and from my beginning I, too, was sinful].
read more.

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.

But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? [Vengeance is His, not mine.] As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day]. So now, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and support you and your little ones.” So he comforted them [giving them encouragement and hope] and spoke [with kindness] to their hearts.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Then the sons of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and with him ten leaders, one leader from each father’s household from each of the tribes of Israel; and each one was the head of his father’s household among the thousands of Israel. They came to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, read more.
“This is what the entire congregation of the Lord says, ‘What is this disloyal and unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, so as to turn away from following the Lord this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the Lord this day? Is the wrongdoing (idolatry) of Peor not enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, even though the affliction [in which twenty-four thousand died] came on the congregation of the Lord, that you would turn away this day from following the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, He will be angry with the entire congregation of Israel tomorrow. If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s tabernacle is situated, and settle down among us. But do not rebel against the Lord, or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the Lord our God [at Shiloh]. Did not Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things under the ban, and [as a result God’s] wrath came on the entire congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his wrongdoing.’” Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the families of Israel, “The Mighty One, God, the Lord, the Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion, or if in an unfaithful act against the Lord, do not save us this day! If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn away from following the Lord, or if [we did so] to offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the Lord Himself require it [of us and hold us responsible]. But in truth we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons (descendants) may say to our sons, “What claim do you have to the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no part in the Lord.” So your sons (descendants) may cause our sons to stop fearing the Lord.’ “So we said, ‘Let us prepare and build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we are to perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your sons (descendants) will not say to our sons in time to come, “You have no part in the Lord.”’ So we said, ‘If your descendants should say this to us or to our descendants in time to come, then we can reply, “See the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but rather it is a witness between us and you.”’ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from following the Lord this day, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle [in Shiloh].” So when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation and heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this unfaithful act against the Lord; indeed you have saved Israel from the hand of the Lord.” Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them. The report pleased the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God; and they said no more about going to battle against them to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; “For it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother.

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you strays from the truth and falls into error and [another] one turns him back [to God], let the [latter] one know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and cover a multitude of sins [that is, obtain the pardon of the many sins committed by the one who has been restored].

And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more [displaying itself in greater depth] in real knowledge and in practical insight, so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences], and that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ [actually living lives that lead others away from sin];

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said,

“I am God Almighty;
Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

And He will also confirm you to the end [keeping you strong and free of any accusation, so that you will be] blameless and beyond reproach in the day [of the return] of our Lord Jesus Christ.

so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness],

so that He may strengthen and establish your hearts without blame in holiness in the sight of our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints (God’s people).

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.