35 Bible Verses about Worldly Wisdom

For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs:

This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband. And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels; How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect; Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note.read more.
If their tent-cord is pulled up, do they not come to an end, and without wisdom?

He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly.

Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk?

And so a hollow-minded man will get wisdom, when a young ass of the field gets teaching.

For this cause men go in fear of him; he has no respect for any who are wise in heart.

Put no high value on your wisdom: let the fear of the Lord be before you, and keep yourself from evil:

Foolish behaviour is joy to the unwise; but a man of good sense makes his way straight. Where there are no wise suggestions, purposes come to nothing; but by a number of wise guides they are made certain.

There is a way which seems straight before a man, but its end is the ways of death.

The man of wealth seems to himself to be wise, but the poor man who has sense has a low opinion of him.

Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.

The heart of the wise man goes in the right direction; but the heart of a foolish man in the wrong. And when the foolish man is walking in the way, he has no sense and lets everyone see that he is foolish.

Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!

For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen. Cursed are those who go deep to keep their designs secret from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who has knowledge of our acts? You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?

For you had faith in your evil-doing; you said, No one sees me; by your wisdom and knowledge you have been turned out of the way: and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other. Because of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge.

Truly, the stork in the heavens is conscious of her fixed times; the dove and the swallow and the crane keep to the times of their coming; but my people have no knowledge of the law of the Lord. How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false. The wise men are shamed, they are overcome with fear and taken: see, they have given up the word of the Lord; and what use is their wisdom to them?

This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth: But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.

About Edom. This is what the Lord of armies has said. Is there no more wisdom in Teman? have wise suggestions come to an end among men of good sense? has their wisdom completely gone?

But if your eye is evil, all your body will be dark. If then the light which is in you is dark, how dark it will be!

At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children.

Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark. Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth.

And when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come with wise words of knowledge, putting before you the secret of God. For I had made the decision to have knowledge of nothing among you but only of Jesus Christ on the cross. And I was with you without strength, in fear and in doubt.read more.
And in my preaching there were no honeyed words of wisdom, but I was dependent on the power of the Spirit to make it clear to you: So that your faith might be based not on man's wisdom but on the power of God. But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing: But we give the news of the secret wisdom of God, which he had kept in store before the world came into existence, for our glory; Of which not one of the rulers of this world had knowledge: for if they had, they would not have put the Lord of glory on the cross: But as it says in the holy Writings, Things which the eye saw not, and which had not come to the ears or into the heart of man, such things as God has made ready for those who have love for him. But God has given us the revelation of these things through his Spirit, for the Spirit makes search into all things, even the deep things of God. For who has knowledge of the things of a man but the spirit of the man which is in him? in the same way, no one has knowledge of the things of God but the Spirit of God. But we have not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, so that we may have knowledge of the things which are freely given to us by God. And these are the things which we say, not in the language of man's wisdom, but in words given to us by the Spirit, judging the things of the spirit by the help of the Spirit. For the natural man is not able to take in the things of the Spirit of God: for they seem foolish to him, and he is not able to have knowledge of them, because such knowledge comes only through the Spirit.

Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ:

O Timothy, take good care of that which is given to you, turning away from the wrong and foolish talk and arguments of that knowledge which is falsely so named; Through which some, who gave their minds to it, have been turned away from the faith. Grace be with you.

For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.

For you had faith in your evil-doing; you said, No one sees me; by your wisdom and knowledge you have been turned out of the way: and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other.

For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good.

By your wisdom and deep knowledge you have got power for yourself, and put silver and gold in your store-houses:

Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish,

As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge.

But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing:

For he is the Yes to all the undertakings of God: and by him all the words of God are made certain and put into effect, to the glory of God through us.

These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.