'Foolish' in the Bible

“Do you thus repay the Lord,O foolish and unwise people?Is not He your Father who has acquired you [as His own]?He has made you and established you [as a nation].

‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal (fool) is his name and foolishness (stupidity) is with him; but I your maidservant did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

“For anger slays the foolish man,And jealousy kills the simple (naive).

“I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering],But I cursed his dwelling immediately [for his destruction was certain].

“Behold, all of you have seen it;Why then do you act vainly and foolishly [cherishing worthless concepts]?

For I was envious of the arrogantAs I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Then I was senseless and ignorant;I was like a beast before You.

Remember this, O Lord, the enemy has scoffed,And a foolish and impious people has spurned Your name.

Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;Remember how the foolish man scoffs at You all day long.

“Leave [behind] your foolishness [and the foolish] and live,And walk in the way of insight and understanding.”

The foolish woman is restless and noisy;She is naive and easily misled and thoughtless, and knows nothing at all [of eternal value].

The proverbs of Solomon:A wise son makes a father glad,But a foolish [stubborn] son [who refuses to learn] is a grief to his mother.

The wise in heart [are willing to learn so they] will accept and obey commands (instruction),But the babbling fool [who is arrogant and thinks himself wise] will come to ruin.

He who [maliciously] winks the eye [of evil intent] causes trouble;And the babbling fool [who is arrogant and thinks himself wise] will come to ruin.

Wise men store up and treasure knowledge [in mind and heart],But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.

He who troubles (mismanages) his own house will inherit the wind (nothing),And the foolish will be a servant to the wise-hearted.

The wise woman builds her house [on a foundation of godly precepts, and her household thrives],But the foolish one [who lacks spiritual insight] tears it down with her own hands [by ignoring godly principles].

Leave the presence of a [shortsighted] fool,For you will not find knowledge or hear godly wisdom from his lips.

The lips of the wise spread knowledge [sifting it as chaff from the grain];But the hearts of [shortsighted] fools are not so.

A wise son makes a father glad,But a foolish man despises his mother.

A foolish son is a grief and anguish to his fatherAnd bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

A foolish (ungodly) son is destruction to his father,And the contentions of a [quarrelsome] wife are like a constant dripping [of water].

There is precious treasure and oil in the house of the wise [who prepare for the future],But a short-sighted and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it.

The devising of folly is sin,And the scoffer is repulsive to men.

If a wise man has a controversy with a foolish and arrogant man,The foolish man [ignores logic and fairness and] only rages or laughs, and there is no peace (rest, agreement).

A poor yet wise youth is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction and counsel (friendly reproof, warning)—

For oppression makes a wise man foolish,And a bribe corrupts the [good judgment of the] heart.

Do not be excessively or willfully wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

The princes of Zoan are complete fools;The counsel of the Pharaoh’s wisest advisors has become stupid.How can you say to Pharaoh,“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings?”

Then I said, “[Surely] these are only the poor (uneducated);They are [sinfully] foolish and have no [spiritual] understanding,For they do not know the way of the LordOr the ordinance of their God [and the requirements of His just and righteous law].

‘Now hear this, O foolish people without heart,Who have eyes but do not see,Who have ears but do not hear.

But they are altogether irrational and stupid and foolishIn their discipline of delusion—their idol is [only] wood [it is ridiculous, empty and worthless]!

Your prophets have seen (imagined) for youFalse and foolish visions;And they have not exposed your wickednessTo restore you from captivity [by teaching you to repent],But they have seen (imagined) and declared to you false and misleading oracles.

Thus says the Lord God, “Woe (judgment is coming) to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit [claiming to have seen things] but have [in fact] seen nothing.

“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her acts of prostitution were more [wanton] than the immoralities of her sister.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to the worthless and foolish shepherdWho deserts the flock!The sword will strike his armAnd his right eye!His arm shall be totally witheredAnd his right eye completely blinded.”

And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish (stupid) man who built his house on the sand.

Five of them were foolish [thoughtless, silly, and careless], and five were wise [far-sighted, practical, and sensible].

For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take any [extra] oil with them,

But the foolish virgins said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’

You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to trust and believe in everything that the prophets have spoken!

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are only men of the same nature as you, bringing the good news to you, so that you turn from these useless and meaningless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them.

I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish.

For even though they knew God [as the Creator], they did not honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation]. On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened.

and [that you are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the [spiritually] childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth—

But I say, did Israel fail to understand [that the gospel was to go also to the Gentiles]? First Moses says,“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation (Gentiles);With a nation that lacks understanding I will make you angry.”

[This is] because the foolishness of God [is not foolishness at all and] is wiser than men [far beyond human comprehension], and the weakness of God is stronger than men [far beyond the limits of human effort].

But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty].

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [discarding his worldly pretensions and acknowledging his lack of wisdom], so that he may become [truly] wise.

You fool! Every time you plant seed you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up and growing] unless it first dies.

For you, being so wise, gladly tolerate and accept the foolish [like me]!

To my shame, I must say, we have been too weak [in comparison to those pseudo-apostles who take advantage of you].But in whatever anyone else dares to boast—I am speaking foolishly—I also dare to boast.

Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]?

Let there be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse [obscene or vulgar] joking, because such things are not appropriate [for believers]; but instead speak of your thankfulness [to God].

Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is.

But those who [are not financially ethical and] crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [leading to personal misery].

But avoid foolish and ill-informed and stupid controversies and genealogies and dissensions and quarrels about the Law, for they are unprofitable and useless.

But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless?

For it is the will of God that by doing right you may silence (muzzle, gag) the [culpable] ignorance and irresponsible criticisms of foolish people.