53 Bible Verses about Self Control

A fool gives all his breath, but [the] wise holds back in quiet.

Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand sayings of understanding, to gain {insightful instruction}, righteousness and justice and equity,read more.
to give shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and purpose to the young, may the wise hear and increase learning, and the one who understands gain direction,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things [there] is no law.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us in order that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we may live self-controlled and righteously and godly in the present age,

Therefore the overseer must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching,

but hospitable, loving what is good, prudent, just, devout, self-controlled,

Older men are to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, [and] in endurance.

and [for] this same [reason], and [by] applying all diligence, supply with your faith excellence of character, and with excellence of character, knowledge, and with knowledge, self-control, and with self-control, patient endurance, and with patient endurance, godliness, and with godliness, brotherly love, and with brotherly love, love.read more.
For [if] these [things] are yours and are increasing, this does not make [you] useless or unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For [the one] for whom these [things] [are] not present is blind, being nearsighted, {having forgotten the cleansing} of his former sins.

Therefore I run in this way, not as [running] aimlessly; I box in this way, not as beating the air. But I discipline my body and subjugate [it], lest somehow [after] preaching to others, myself should become disqualified.

But if anyone thinks he is behaving dishonorably concerning his virgin, if she is past her prime and it ought to be thus, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin. Let them marry. But he who stands firm in his heart, not having necessity, but has authority concerning his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin, he will do well. So then, the one who marries his own virgin does well, and the one who does not marry [her] will do better.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: [that] you abstain from sexual immorality; [that] each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, just as also the Gentiles who do not know God;read more.
not to transgress and to exploit his brother in the matter, because the Lord [is] the one who avenges concerning all these [things], just as also we told you beforehand and testified solemnly. For God did not call us to impurity, but in holiness.

Therefore, {when you have prepared your minds for action} [by] being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So then, we must not sleep like the rest, but must be on the alert and be self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But [because] we are of the day, we must be sober, [by] putting on the breastplate of faith and love and [as] a helmet the hope of salvation,

Now the end of all [things] draws near. Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for [your] prayers.

Be sober; be on the alert. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.

Understand [this], my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

You have tried my heart; you have examined [me] by night; you have tested me; you found nothing. I have decided [that] my mouth will not transgress.

The heart of the wise will make his mouth judicious, and upon his lips, it will add persuasiveness.

He who guards his mouth and his tongue, he guards his life from danger.

Not many should become teachers, my brothers, [because you] know that we will receive a greater judgment. For we all stumble [in] many [ways]. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he [is] a perfect individual, able to hold in check his whole body also. And if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we also guide their whole bodies.read more.
Behold also ships: [although they] are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wishes. So also the tongue is a small member [of the body] and boasts great [things]. Behold how small a fire sets ablaze how great a forest! And the tongue [is] a fire! The world of unrighteousness, the tongue, is set among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire {the course of human existence}, being set on fire by hell. For every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no human being is able to tame the tongue. [It is] a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these [things] ought not to be so! A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter [water, does it]? A fig tree is not able, my brothers, to produce olives, or a grapevine figs. Neither can a saltwater spring produce fresh water.

But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer, but whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. And the one who wants to go to court with you and take your tunic, {let him have} your outer garment also.

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic also.

Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those [who are] good and gentle, but also to those [who are] unjust. For this [finds] favor, if because of consciousness of God someone endures sorrows [while] suffering unjustly. For what credit [is it] if, [when you] sin and are beaten [for it], you endure? But if you endure [when you] do good and suffer [for it], this [finds] favor with God.read more.
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his footsteps, who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who [when he] was reviled, did not revile in return; [when] suffering, he did not threaten, but entrusted [himself] to the one who judges justly,

And it happened [that] after these things his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master {does not worry about} what [is] in the house, and everything he owns he has put in my hand. He has no greater [authority] in this house than me, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, since you [are] his wife. Now how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"read more.
And it happened [that] as she spoke to Joseph {day after day}, he did not heed her to lie beside her or to be with her. {But one particular day} he came into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were there in the house, she seized him by his garment [and] said, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and he went outside.

When Saul returned from [pursuing the] Philistines, they told him, "Look, David [is] in the wilderness of En Gedi." So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and he and his men went to search [for] David {in the direction of} the Rocks of the Mountain Goats. He came to the sheep pens beside the road, and a cave [was] there. Then Saul went in {to relieve himself}. Now David and his men [were] sitting in the innermost part of the cave.read more.
And David's men said to him, "Look, today [is] the day about which Yahweh said to you, 'See, I am giving your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him {whatever seems good to you}.'" So David got up and secretly cut the hem of Saul's robe. {And then} afterward David {felt guilty}, because he had cut {the hem of Saul's robe}. He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way.

So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him. Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}." But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?"read more.
And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}. {Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them.

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head." The king said, "{What do we have in common}, sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because Yahweh has said to him 'Curse David,' who can say, "Why have you done this?"

"I made a covenant with my eyes, so how could I look closely upon a virgin?

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought like lamb to [the] slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth.

But he was silent and did not reply anything. Again the high priest asked him and said to him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's residence [and] gathered the whole cohort to him. And they stripped him [and] put a scarlet military cloak around him, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put [it] on his head, and [put] a reed in his right hand. And kneeling down before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!"read more.
And they spat on him [and] took the reed and repeatedly struck [him] on his head.

and we toil, working with our own hands. [When we are] reviled, we bless; [when we are] persecuted, we endure; [when we are] slandered, we encourage. We have become like the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all [things], until now.

Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all [things]. Thus those [do so] in order that they may receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable [one]. Therefore I run in this way, not as [running] aimlessly; I box in this way, not as beating the air.read more.
But I discipline my body and subjugate [it], lest somehow [after] preaching to others, myself should become disqualified.

The mouth of a fool [is] ruin to him, and his lips [are] a snare to his soul.

Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: "They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."

{On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice.

So David sent to the house for Tamar, saying, "Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare food for him." Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother. Now he [was] lying down, and she took the dough and kneaded [it] and made cakes before his eyes, and she baked the cakes. Then she took the pan and poured it out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, "Let all [the] men go out from me." So all [the] men went out from him.read more.
Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food [to] the private room that I may eat from your hand." So Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them to Amnon her brother in the private room. When she brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, "Come, lie with me, my sister!" Then Tamar said to him, "No, my brother! Do not force me, for such a thing has not been done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! As for me, where should I take my disgrace? You will be as one of the fools in Israel. So please, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you." But he [was] not willing to listen to her voice. He [was] stronger than she, and he forced her and lay with her.

They also angered [God] at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses on account of them, because they rebelled against his Spirit, and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger, [if] you are snared by the sayings of your mouth, [if] you are caught by the sayings of your mouth, do this, then, my child, and save yourself, for you have come into {the palm of your neighbor's hand}: Go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbor.

When there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but as for he who guards instruction, happiness [is] his.

And [while] he was discussing about righteousness and self control and the judgment that is to come, Felix became afraid [and] replied, "Go away for the present, and [when I] have an opportunity, I will summon you."

Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to immorality, [that] their bodies would be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to degrading passions, for their females exchanged the natural relations for those contrary to nature,read more.
and likewise also the males, abandoning the natural relations with the female, were inflamed in their desire toward one another, males with males committing the shameless deed, and receiving in themselves the penalty that was necessary for their error. And just as they did not see fit {to recognize God}, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things [that are] not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greediness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence. [They are] gossipers, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, contrivers of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, faithless, unfeeling, unmerciful,

Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and [then] you should be {together} again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control.

But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn [with sexual desire].

which [things] {although they have}, to be sure, an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and unsparing treatment of the body, {do not have any value} against the indulgence of the flesh.

But these persons, like irrational animals born [only with] natural [instincts] for capture and killing, blaspheming {about things} they do not understand, in their destruction will also be destroyed, being harmed [as the] wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, [they are] stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures [when they] feast together with you, having eyes full of [desire for] an adulteress and unceasing from sin, enticing unstable persons, [and] having hearts trained for greediness. Accursed children!

He who keeps his mouth guards his life; he who opens his lips, ruin [belongs] to him.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that [you] obey its desires,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

He who is slow to anger [is] better than him who is mighty, and he who controls his spirit than him who captures a city.

The one who conquers will inherit these [things], and I will be {his God} and he will be {my son}.

and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.