68 Bible Verses about Folly, Effects Of

Fearing the Lord is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And he said to mankind, 'The fear of the Lord -- that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

For the music director; by David. Fools say to themselves, "There is no God." They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what is right.

I will listen to what God the Lord says. For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers. Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.

To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. He will receive praise forever.

Wisdom calls out in the street, she shouts loudly in the plazas; at the head of the noisy streets she calls, in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words: "How long will you simpletons love naivet?? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?read more.
If only you will respond to my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you. However, because I called but you refused to listen, because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention, because you neglected all my advice, and did not comply with my rebuke, so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you, I will mock when what you dread comes, when what you dread comes like a whirlwind, and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm, when distressing trouble comes on you.

The one who loves discipline loves knowledge, but the one who hates reproof is stupid.

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in disclosing what is on his mind.

For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord's will is.

The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this; the fool does not understand this.

I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. They do not know what their God requires of them.

But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Didn't the one who made the outside make the inside as well?

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies.

But reject foolish and ignorant controversies, because you know they breed infighting.

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law, because they are useless and empty.

They acted like fools in their rebellious ways, and suffered because of their sins.

Tell them: 'Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive: "You should fear me!" says the Lord. "You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary." But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way.read more.
They do not say to themselves, "Let us revere the Lord our God. It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time. It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest." Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.'

The one who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but the one who walks in wisdom will escape.

The one who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

The way of a fool is right in his own opinion, but the one who listens to advice is wise.

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death.

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; my guilt is not hidden from you.

The shrewd person conceals knowledge, but foolish people publicize folly.

Every shrewd person acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly.

The tongue of the wise treats knowledge correctly, but the mouth of the fool spouts out folly.

But they will not go much further, for their foolishness will be obvious to everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres.

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

A naive person believes everything, but the shrewd person discerns his steps.

and I saw among the naive -- I discerned among the youths -- a young man who lacked wisdom. He was passing by the street near her corner, making his way along the road to her house in the twilight, the evening, in the dark of the night.read more.
Suddenly a woman came out to meet him! She was dressed like a prostitute and with secret intent. (She is loud and rebellious, she does not remain at home -- at one time outside, at another in the wide plazas, and by every corner she lies in wait.) So she grabbed him and kissed him, and with a bold expression she said to him, "I have fresh meat at home; today I have fulfilled my vows! That is why I came out to meet you, to look for you, and I found you! I have spread my bed with elegant coverings, with richly colored fabric from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deeply of lovemaking until morning, let's delight ourselves with sexual intercourse. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a journey of some distance. He has taken a bag of money with him; he will not return until the end of the month." She persuaded him with persuasive words; with her smooth talk she compelled him. Suddenly he went after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper's snare till an arrow pierces his liver -- like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life.

The woman called Folly is brash, she is naive and does not know anything. So she sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who are passing by her in the way, who go straight on their way.read more.
"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here," she says to those who lack understanding. "Stolen waters are sweet, and food obtained in secret is pleasant!" But they do not realize that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection.

You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!

A shrewd person sees danger and hides himself, but the naive keep right on going and suffer for it.

But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut.

For the waywardness of the simpletons will kill them, and the careless ease of fools will destroy them.

He will die because there was no discipline; because of the greatness of his folly he will reel.

The wise person accepts instructions, but the one who speaks foolishness will come to ruin.

Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

The wise inherit honor, but he holds fools up to public contempt.

The one who gives an answer before he listens -- that is his folly and his shame.

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

A foolish child is a grief to his father, and bitterness to the mother who bore him.

The Proverbs of Solomon: A wise child makes a father rejoice, but a foolish child is a grief to his mother.

A wise child brings joy to his father, but a foolish person despises his mother.

Whoever brings a fool into the world does so to his grief, and the father of a fool has no joy.

Insight is like a life-giving fountain to the one who possesses it, but folly leads to the discipline of fools.

My wounds are infected and starting to smell, because of my foolish sins.

The lips of a fool enter into strife, and his mouth invites a flogging.

A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!

A thoroughfare will be there -- it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it; it is reserved for those authorized to use it -- fools will not stray into it.

But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut. Later, the other virgins came too, saying, 'Lord, lord! Let us in!' But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I do not know you!'

If you should pound the fool in the mortar among the grain with the pestle, his foolishness would not depart from him.

The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly.

Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

So Aaron said to Moses, "O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!

So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has."

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. But "when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Flog a scorner, and as a result the simpleton will learn prudence; correct a discerning person, and as a result he will understand knowledge.

When a scorner is punished, the naive becomes wise; when a wise person is instructed, he gains knowledge.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

A rod and reproof impart wisdom, but a child who is unrestrained brings shame to his mother.

You who are naive, discern wisdom! And you fools, understand discernment!

Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning; it is known even in the heart of fools.

Those who stray morally will gain understanding; those who complain will acquire insight.

an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth --