15 Bible Verses about Foolish People

I have become foolish [i.e., by my boasting], but you made me do it [i.e., in order to vindicate myself]. For I should have been commended by you [i.e., for my effective ministry there in Corinth], because I was not inferior in any way to those "super apostles" [See 11:5], even though I am nothing.

Are you so foolish [as to believe that after] having begun [your Christian lives] through [the power of] the Holy Spirit, you can [now] become complete by [living according to your human strength]?

For we [Christians] were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various kinds of [evil] desires and [sinful] pleasures. [We used to] live in malice and envy, hating people and being hated by them.

No one should fool himself. If any person among you thinks he is smart, by human standards, he should become a "fool," so that he can become [really] wise.

I wish that you could put up with a little "foolishness" from me, but you really are doing that already.

Again I say, no one should think I am foolish, but if you do, [then] accept me that way, so that I too can boast a little bit.

What I am saying in this boastful [show of] confidence is not what the Lord would [say], but is [just plain] "foolishness."

Five of the bridesmaids were foolish and five were sensible.

The foolish ones did not take enough olive oil for their lamps with them,

The foolish ones said to the sensible ones, 'Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.'

You foolish people! Did not the One [i.e., God] who made the outside [i.e., your body] also make the inside [i.e., your spirit]?

You foolish person. The seed you plant does not come to life [i.e., grow] unless it dies.

I am ashamed to say that we were [too] weak to do such things. [Note: Paul is probably saying, sarcastically, "We are too 'weak' to take financial advantage of people and mistreat them the way those 'super apostles' there in Corinth were doing"]. Yet, in whatever [matters] anyone [there] dares to boast about, (now I am really speaking foolishly), I will dare to boast also.

However, if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will hold back, so that no one will think more of me than what he sees or hears from me.

But I ask [again], "Did not the Israelites understand [the message]?" In the first place, Moses said [Deut. 32:21], "I [i.e., God] will stir up you [Jews] to become jealous, by [favoring] a nation [i.e., the Gentiles] that is unworthy [of your approval]. [I will do it] by using a nation of fools to make you people angry."