35 Bible Verses about Worldly Wisdom

For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness."

Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic.

When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

If God puts no trust in his servants and attributes folly to his angels, how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.read more.
Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining wisdom.

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

"Should not this abundance of words be answered, or should this talkative man be vindicated?

But an empty man will become wise, when a wild donkey's colt is born a human being.

Therefore people fear him, for he does not regard all the wise in heart."

Do not be wise in your own estimation; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

Folly is a joy to one who lacks sense, but one who has understanding follows an upright course. Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with abundant advisers they are established.

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death.

A rich person is wise in his own eyes, but a discerning poor person can evaluate him properly.

For with great wisdom comes great frustration; whoever increases his knowledge merely increases his heartache.

A wise person's good sense protects him, but a fool's lack of sense leaves him vulnerable. Even when a fool walks along the road he lacks sense, and shows everyone what a fool he is.

Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding.

Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people -- an absolutely extraordinary deed. Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations." Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, who do their work in secret and boast, "Who sees us? Who knows what we're doing?" Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? Or should the pottery say about the potter, "He doesn't understand"?

You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, 'No one sees me.' Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me!' Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it.

Even the stork knows when it is time to move on. The turtledove, swallow, and crane recognize the normal times for their migration. But my people pay no attention to what I, the Lord, require of them. How can you say, "We are wise! We have the law of the Lord"? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean. Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

The Lord says, "Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich. If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things," says the Lord.

The Lord who rules over all spoke about Edom. "Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman? Can Edom's counselors not give her any good advice? Has all of their wisdom turned bad?

But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling.read more.
My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God. Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him." God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man except the man's spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and absurdities of so-called "knowledge." By professing it, some have strayed from the faith. Grace be with you all.

Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people -- an absolutely extraordinary deed. Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations."

You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, 'No one sees me.' Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me!'

The Lord answered, "This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good."

By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself; you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

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."

Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing.

For every one of God's promises are "Yes" in him; therefore also through him the "Amen" is spoken, to the glory we give to God.

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.