15 Bible Verses about Not Imitating Evil

you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.

And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?--that I also may do the same.'

"When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.

And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.

"And I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

"Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise:

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.