14 Bible Verses about Worldly Ambition

Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand each other's speech.

Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in grand matters, or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the profane but for a moment? Though his height mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds, yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, Where is he?read more.
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him.

They are exalted. Yet a little while, and they are gone. Yea, they are brought low. They are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

Their inward thought is [that] their houses [are] forever, their dwelling-places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Even a man in splendor does not abide. He is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly. Yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah.read more.
They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for it. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah. Be not thou afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul (and men praise thee, when thou do well for thyself), he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. A man who is in splendor, and understands not, is like the beasts that perish.

From where are wars and fightings among you? Is it not from here: from your pleasures warring in your body-parts? Ye desire and do not have, so ye murder. And ye envy and cannot obtain, so ye fight and make war. Ye do not have, because ye do not ask.

He loves transgression who loves strife. He who raises high his gate seeks destruction.

How thou are fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How thou are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! And thou said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the outermost parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.read more.
Yet thou shall be brought down to Sheol, to the utmost parts of the pit.

Therefore thus said lord LORD: Because thou are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness.

Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous.) [He is] a haughty man, who does not keep at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers to him all nations, and heaps to him all peoples.

Because thou have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell therein. Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!