59 Bible Verses about Deception

At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, "I do not know the man!" At that moment a rooster crowed.

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me."

So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you."

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife," for he thought to himself, "The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful."

You destroy liars; the Lord despises violent and deceitful people.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

But you, O God, will bring them down to the deep Pit. Violent and deceitful people will not live even half a normal lifespan. But as for me, I trust in you.

A truthful witness rescues lives, but the one who breathes lies brings deception.

Like a madman who shoots firebrands and deadly arrows, so is a person who deceives his neighbor, and says, "Was I not only joking?"

they did something clever. They collected some provisions and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, along with worn-out wineskins that were ripped and patched.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well."

The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die,

When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated upper room all by himself. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." When Eglon rose up from his seat,

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand."

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God's wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.

The plans of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.

The wisdom of the shrewd person is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deception.

The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, probe into people's minds. I examine people's hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else.

But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. read more.
But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out -- he will be blessed in what he does. If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Because you say, "I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing," but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you."

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

The Israelites who remain will not act deceitfully. They will not lie, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep and lie down; no one will terrify them."

Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words.

Bread gained by deceit tastes sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Now when Absalom and all the men of Israel arrived in Jerusalem, Ahithophel was with him. When David's friend Hushai the Arkite came to Absalom, Hushai said to him, "Long live the king! Long live the king!" Absalom said to Hushai, "Do you call this loyalty to your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?" read more.
Hushai replied to Absalom, "No, I will be loyal to the one whom the Lord, these people, and all the men of Israel have chosen. Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you."

So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying, 'Saul struck down his thousands, But David his tens of thousands'?" David thought about what they said and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath. read more.
He altered his behavior in their presence. Since he was in their power, he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "Look at this madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?"

Then Absalom went to the king and said, "My shearers have begun their work. Let the king and his servants go with me." But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son. We shouldn't all go. We shouldn't burden you in that way." Though Absalom pressed him, the king was not willing to go. Instead, David blessed him. Then Absalom said, "If you will not go, then let my brother Amnon go with us." The king replied to him, "Why should he go with you?" read more.
But when Absalom pressed him, he sent Amnon and all the king's sons along with him. Absalom instructed his servants, "Look! When Amnon is drunk and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' kill him then and there. Don't fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!"

He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, 'Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?'

Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! He tore his clothes, returned to his brothers, and said, "The boy isn't there! And I, where can I go?" So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a young goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. read more.
Then they brought the special tunic to their father and said, "We found this. Determine now whether it is your son's tunic or not." He recognized it and exclaimed, "It is my son's tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!" Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. "No," he said, "I will go to the grave mourning my son." So Joseph's father wept for him.

Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah. They said to them, "We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, for it would be a disgrace to us. We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males. read more.
Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart." Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man did not delay in doing what they asked because he wanted Jacob's daughter Dinah badly. (Now he was more important than anyone in his father's household.) So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, "These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised. If we do so, won't their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let's consent to their demand, so they will live among us." All the men who assembled at the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate was circumcised. In three days, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and went to the unsuspecting city and slaughtered every male. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left. Jacob's sons killed them and looted the city because their sister had been violated. They took their flocks, herds, and donkeys, as well as everything in the city and in the surrounding fields. They captured as plunder all their wealth, all their little ones, and their wives, including everything in the houses. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought ruin on me by making me a foul odor among the inhabitants of the land -- among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!" But Simeon and Levi replied, "Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?"

So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand." So David sent Tamar to the house saying, "Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him." So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched, and baked them. read more.
But when she took the pan and set it before him, he refused to eat. Instead Amnon said, "Get everyone out of here!" So everyone left. Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the cakes into the bedroom; then I will eat from your hand." So Tamar took the cakes that she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom. As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, "Come on! Get in bed with me, my sister!" But she said to him, "No, my brother! Don't humiliate me! This just isn't done in Israel! Don't do this foolish thing! How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools in Israel! Just speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you." But he refused to listen to her. He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.' Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you! read more.
Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I'll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies." "But Esau my brother is a hairy man," Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, "and I have smooth skin! My father may touch me! Then he'll think I'm mocking him and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing." So his mother told him, "Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!" So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. He went to his father and said, "My father!" Isaac replied, "Here I am. Which are you, my son?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me." But Isaac asked his son, "How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?" "Because the Lord your God brought it to me," he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau." So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's." He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

When the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, they did something clever. They collected some provisions and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, along with worn-out wineskins that were ripped and patched. They had worn-out, patched sandals on their feet and dressed in worn-out clothes. All their bread was dry and hard. read more.
They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us." The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live near us. So how can we make a treaty with you?" But they said to Joshua, "We are willing to be your subjects." So Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?" They told him, "Your subjects have come from a very distant land because of the reputation of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt and all he did to the two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan -- King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan in Ashtaroth. Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, 'Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, "We are willing to be your subjects. Make a treaty with us."' This bread of ours was warm when we packed it in our homes the day we started out to meet you, but now it is dry and hard. These wineskins we filled were brand new, but look how they have ripped. Our clothes and sandals have worn out because it has been a very long journey." The men examined some of their provisions, but they failed to ask the Lord's advice. Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community sealed it with an oath.

When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. Ehud made himself a sword -- it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh. He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) read more.
After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it. But he went back once he reached the carved images at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, "I have a secret message for you, O king." Eglon said, "Be quiet!" All his attendants left. When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated upper room all by himself. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." When Eglon rose up from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon's belly. The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud did not pull the sword out of his belly. As Ehud went out into the vestibule, he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. When Ehud had left, Eglon's servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the well-ventilated inner room." They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor! Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah. When he reached Seirah, he blew a trumpet in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead. He said to them, "Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!" They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not let anyone cross. That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites -- all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped. Israel humiliated Moab that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, "Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces." So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated." read more.
Samson said to her, "If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man." So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them. They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered. Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued." He said to her, "If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be just like any other man." So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread. Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued." He said to her, "If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man." So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric. She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong." She nagged him every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. Finally he told her his secret. He said to her, "My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men." When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, "Come up here again, for he has told me his secret." So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him vulnerable and his strength left him. She said, "The Philistines are here, Samson!" He woke up and thought, "I will do as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not realize that the Lord had left him.

If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

for he is too proud to recognize and give up his sin.

But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

The old prophet then said, "I too am a prophet like you. An angel told me with the Lord's authority, 'Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat and drink.'" But he was lying to him.

My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.

After four years Absalom said to the king, "Let me go and repay my vow that I made to the Lord while I was in Hebron.

They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You do not court anyone's favor because you show no partiality.

Gehazi, the prophet Elisha's servant, thought, "Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him. As certainly as the Lord lives, I will run after him and accept something from him."

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife," for he thought to himself, "The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful."

Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.

Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property.

The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die,

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well."