100 Bible Verses about Criticism

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 7,174 helpful votes

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 1:19-20 ESV / 7,010 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Matthew 7:1-5 ESV / 6,740 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

James 4:11-12 ESV / 6,655 helpful votes

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 6,185 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 6,015 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 5,306 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Romans 14:4 ESV / 5,111 helpful votes

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 4,679 helpful votes

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 15:31 ESV / 4,612 helpful votes

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.

Proverbs 27:6 ESV / 4,611 helpful votes

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Galatians 5:15 ESV / 4,464 helpful votes

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV / 4,446 helpful votes

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Colossians 3:12-14 ESV / 4,386 helpful votes

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 4,382 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 4,314 helpful votes

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Luke 1:37 ESV / 4,161 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 4,149 helpful votes

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 9:8 ESV / 4,117 helpful votes

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Romans 2:1-4 ESV / 4,106 helpful votes

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

2 Timothy 2:24-25 ESV / 4,082 helpful votes

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

Proverbs 13:18 ESV / 4,060 helpful votes

Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.

Proverbs 15:32 ESV / 3,988 helpful votes

Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 3,965 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Matthew 7:2 ESV / 3,908 helpful votes

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Proverbs 8:13 ESV / 3,908 helpful votes

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Romans 12:19 ESV / 3,878 helpful votes

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / 3,849 helpful votes

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 ESV / 3,844 helpful votes

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3,837 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 3,784 helpful votes

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV / 3,782 helpful votes

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

2 Peter 1:21 ESV / 3,779 helpful votes

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:51 ESV / 3,739 helpful votes

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV / 3,690 helpful votes

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Romans 14:10 ESV / 3,644 helpful votes

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 3,602 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

James 2:13 ESV / 3,534 helpful votes

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 5:16 ESV / 3,501 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Luke 6:37-38 ESV / 3,488 helpful votes

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 ESV / 3,473 helpful votes

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 3,467 helpful votes

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Job 38:2-3 ESV / 3,406 helpful votes

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

John 8:7 ESV / 3,400 helpful votes

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Proverbs 9:8-9 ESV / 3,398 helpful votes

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Revelation 3:15-16 ESV / 3,394 helpful votes

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Romans 2:1 ESV / 3,379 helpful votes

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 3,374 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Proverbs 15:1-2 ESV / 3,343 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 3,339 helpful votes

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Matthew 7:13-14 ESV / 3,285 helpful votes

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV / 3,228 helpful votes

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

Mark 16:1-20 ESV / 3,223 helpful votes

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ...

Amos 3:3 ESV / 3,183 helpful votes

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

Ephesians 4:15 ESV / 3,173 helpful votes

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

2 Corinthians 10:10 ESV / 3,168 helpful votes

For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

Romans 14:13 ESV / 3,164 helpful votes

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Proverbs 13:20 ESV / 3,164 helpful votes

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Matthew 18:15 ESV / 3,148 helpful votes

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 3,143 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Proverbs 12:18 ESV / 3,139 helpful votes

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 3,131 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV / 3,039 helpful votes

Let all that you do be done in love.

Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV / 3,037 helpful votes

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Proverbs 27:9 ESV / 3,032 helpful votes

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

Romans 8:1 ESV / 3,000 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 11:2 ESV / 2,959 helpful votes

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

3 John 1:9-10 ESV / 2,916 helpful votes

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 2,846 helpful votes

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

Proverbs 12:15 ESV / 2,803 helpful votes

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2,642 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 7:24 ESV / 2,631 helpful votes

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Matthew 23:24 ESV / 2,620 helpful votes

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

James 5:9 ESV / 2,589 helpful votes

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Proverbs 22:10 ESV / 2,476 helpful votes

Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

Proverbs 15:31-32 ESV / 2,446 helpful votes

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

John 3:16 ESV / 2,427 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV / 2,379 helpful votes

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

1 John 1:9 ESV / 2,367 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 8:31 ESV / 2,341 helpful votes

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV / 2,246 helpful votes

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Proverbs 14:1-35 ESV / 2,223 helpful votes

The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down. Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him. By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies. ...

Proverbs 29:1 ESV / 2,142 helpful votes

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Matthew 7:1 ESV / 1,949 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

Romans 12:3 ESV / 1,839 helpful votes

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Galatians 5:2 ESV / 1,834 helpful votes

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

Matthew 7:4 ESV / 1,685 helpful votes

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?

Luke 17:3 ESV / 1,592 helpful votes

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

Proverbs 15:31-33 ESV / 1,504 helpful votes

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Ephesians 4:2 ESV / 1,491 helpful votes

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

John 8:2 ESV / 1,460 helpful votes

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 1,252 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

Colossians 3:13 ESV / 1,088 helpful votes

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 1,006 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 8:2 ESV / 995 helpful votes

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV / 967 helpful votes

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ...

Romans 6:23 ESV / 900 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 891 helpful votes

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Matthew 7:1-2 ESV / 855 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Proverbs 12:1 ESV / 782 helpful votes

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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