14 Bible Verses about Worldly Ambition

Most Relevant Verses

Genesis 11:7

Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

Isaiah 5:8


Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others],
Until there is no more room [for others],
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

Psalm 131:1-2

Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child [resting] with his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me [composed and freed from discontent].

Job 20:5-9


That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the godless is only for a moment?

“Though his pride reaches the heavens
And his head touches the clouds,

Yet he perishes forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
read more.

“He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

“The eye which saw him sees him no longer,
Neither does his [accustomed] place behold him any longer.

Job 24:24


“They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything [they are] gathered up and taken out of the way;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

Psalm 49:11-20


Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever,
And their dwelling places to all generations;
They have named their lands after their own names [ignoring God].

But man, with all his [self] honor and pomp, will not endure;
He is like the beasts that perish.
This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident,
And of those after them who approve [and are influenced by] their words. Selah.
read more.

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
Death will be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form and beauty shall be for Sheol to consume,
So that they have no dwelling [on earth].

But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me. Selah.
Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich,
When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;

For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
His glory will not descend after him.

Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous—
And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—

He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never again see the light.

A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.

James 4:1-2

What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].

Proverbs 17:19


He who loves transgression loves strife and is quarrelsome;
He who [proudly] raises his gate seeks destruction [because of his arrogant pride].

Isaiah 14:12-15


“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!

“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the remote parts of the north.

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
read more.

“But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol,
To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

Ezekiel 31:10-11

‘Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Because it is high in stature and has set its top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and its heart is proud of its height, I will hand it over to a mighty one and a mighty one of the nations; he will most certainly deal with it. I have driven it away in accordance with its wickedness.

Habakkuk 2:5


“Moreover, wine is treacherous and betrays the arrogant man,
So that he does not stay at home.
His appetite is large like Sheol,
And he is like death, never satisfied.
He gathers to himself all nations
And collects to himself all peoples [as if he owned them].

Habakkuk 2:8-9


“Because you [king of Babylon] have looted many nations,
All peoples who are left will loot you—
Because of human bloodshed and for the violence done to the land,
To the city and all its inhabitants.
“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who obtains wicked gain for his house [and thinks by so doing]
To set his nest on high,
That he may be rescued from the hand of evil.

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Worldly Ambition Examples

Genesis 3:5

For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.”

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