52 Bible Verses about Unreliability

They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you!

What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn's dew!

Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

But the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph -- he forgot him.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed the commandment that the Lord your God gave you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever! But now your kingdom will not continue! The Lord has sought out for himself a man who is loyal to him and the Lord has appointed him to be leader over his people, for you have not obeyed what the Lord commanded you."

When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and begged its great king for help. But he will not be able to heal you! He cannot cure your wound!

Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, "So, couldn't you stay awake with me for one hour?

Then he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn't you stay awake for one hour?

When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief.

But this has happened so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled." Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Like a bad tooth or a foot out of joint, so is confidence in an unfaithful person at the time of trouble.

Do not trust in princes, or in human beings, who cannot deliver! Their life's breath departs, they return to the ground; on that day their plans die.

Stop trusting in human beings, whose life's breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

There you will worship gods made by human hands -- wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

Their idols are made of silver and gold -- they are man-made. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see, ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell,read more.
hands, but cannot touch, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot even clear their throats. Those who make them will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them.

To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not fall over.

Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot talk. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you. And they do not have any power to help you."

All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols. They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone -- gods that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control your very breath and all your ways!

What good is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things?

For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many.

Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and they will mislead many.

He said, "Watch out that you are not misled. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them!

For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness." And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.

For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "You have rejected this message; you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, and rely on that kind of behavior. So this sin will become your downfall. You will be like a high wall that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse; it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.

No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin.

"'Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are godlike, I am about to bring foreigners against you, the most terrifying of nations. They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, and they will defile your splendor.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent." Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body -- a wisdom with no true value -- they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

For I do not trust in my bow, and I do not prevail by my sword.

But David replied to the Philistine, "You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel's armies, whom you have defied!

No king is delivered by his vast army; a warrior is not saved by his great might. A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, those who rely on war horses, and trust in Egypt's many chariots and in their many, many horsemen. But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel and do not seek help from the Lord.

The chief adviser said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: "What is your source of confidence? Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

You rely on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Will you possess the land?'

But I will have pity on the nation of Judah. I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior's bow, by sword, by military victory, by chariot horses, or by chariots."

I will overthrow royal thrones and shatter the might of earthly kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and those who ride them, and horses and their riders will fall as people kill one another.

Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place! For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword.

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

Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! If wealth increases, do not become attached to it!

Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, you rebellious people of Ammon, who trust in your riches and say, 'Who would dare to attack us?'

You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?' asks the Lord who rules over all. 'Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house!

From that time when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty. I struck all the products of your labor with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,' says the Lord.

Tyre built herself a fortification and piled up silver like dust and gold like the mud of the streets! Nevertheless the Lord will evict her and shove her fortifications into the sea -- she will be consumed by fire.

"Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.