100 Bible Verses about Religious Hypocrites

Matthew 7:5 ESV / 894 helpful votes

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.

Matthew 23:27 ESV / 780 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 772 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Matthew 23:23 ESV / 717 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Matthew 6:1 ESV / 698 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 23:13 ESV / 621 helpful votes

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Matthew 7:1-5 ESV / 617 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.

Mark 7:6 ESV / 582 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

1 John 4:20 ESV / 567 helpful votes

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Matthew 23:27-28 ESV / 556 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 550 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Titus 1:16 ESV / 545 helpful votes

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Matthew 23:1-39 ESV / 540 helpful votes

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ...

Romans 10:3 ESV / 534 helpful votes

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

Matthew 15:7-9 ESV / 522 helpful votes

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 518 helpful votes

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

James 1:26-27 ESV / 503 helpful votes

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Matthew 23:5 ESV / 498 helpful votes

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

Matthew 6:2 ESV / 498 helpful votes

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Luke 12:2 ESV / 497 helpful votes

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

James 2:14 ESV / 493 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

Matthew 6:5 ESV / 485 helpful votes

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

James 2:14-26 ESV / 478 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ...

1 John 3:10 ESV / 473 helpful votes

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Matthew 6:16 ESV / 460 helpful votes

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

James 1:22 ESV / 459 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Matthew 24:51 ESV / 431 helpful votes

And will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Job 8:13 ESV / 425 helpful votes

Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.

James 1:22-23 ESV / 424 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 417 helpful votes

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Luke 6:46 ESV / 408 helpful votes

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Luke 20:46-47 ESV / 400 helpful votes

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

1 John 2:9 ESV / 399 helpful votes

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

1 John 2:4 ESV / 397 helpful votes

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 395 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,

James 1:26 ESV / 394 helpful votes

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Romans 2:1-5 ESV / 394 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? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

Matthew 23:13-15 ESV / 393 helpful votes

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Psalm 55:21 ESV / 392 helpful votes

His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

2 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 390 helpful votes

Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Romans 2:1 ESV / 390 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.

Matthew 15:7 ESV / 387 helpful votes

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

Romans 2:3 ESV / 382 helpful votes

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?

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 378 helpful votes

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Galatians 6:3 ESV / 375 helpful votes

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

1 Peter 2:16 ESV / 372 helpful votes

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV / 372 helpful votes

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

Matthew 7:15 ESV / 370 helpful votes

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 369 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. ...

Matthew 23:15 ESV / 355 helpful votes

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Isaiah 29:13 ESV / 341 helpful votes

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

Matthew 7:3-5 ESV / 316 helpful votes

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.

Matthew 23:14 ESV / 314 helpful votes

Luke 12:1 ESV / 309 helpful votes

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:25 ESV / 308 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

1 Peter 2:1 ESV / 307 helpful votes

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

Proverbs 11:9 ESV / 304 helpful votes

With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

Matthew 22:18 ESV / 295 helpful votes

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

Luke 18:11-12 ESV / 292 helpful votes

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

1 Timothy 4:2 ESV / 291 helpful votes

Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Amos 5:21-27 ESV / 288 helpful votes

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ...

Luke 18:11 ESV / 287 helpful votes

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 285 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Matthew 23:29 ESV / 281 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

Matthew 23:28 ESV / 278 helpful votes

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Job 15:34 ESV / 276 helpful votes

For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 272 helpful votes

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 16:3 ESV / 271 helpful votes

And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

Matthew 15:8 ESV / 271 helpful votes

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Isaiah 32:6 ESV / 264 helpful votes

For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.

Isaiah 65:5 ESV / 259 helpful votes

Who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

Luke 11:39 ESV / 258 helpful votes

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

Jeremiah 7:4 ESV / 253 helpful votes

Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

Job 27:8-10 ESV / 253 helpful votes

For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

Matthew 23:23-24 ESV / 252 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Isaiah 29:15 ESV / 252 helpful votes

Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

Matthew 23:17 ESV / 246 helpful votes

You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

Jeremiah 42:20 ESV / 236 helpful votes

That you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’

John 3:16-17 ESV / 217 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.

Matthew 27:3-5 ESV / 171 helpful votes

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Mark 7:1-37 ESV / 128 helpful votes

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ...

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 85 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

Job 36:13 ESV / 84 helpful votes

“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

Isaiah 58:2 ESV / 68 helpful votes

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Romans 12:9 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Luke 12:56 ESV / 67 helpful votes

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Job 13:16 ESV / 66 helpful votes

This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 62 helpful votes

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ...

Matthew 7:1 ESV / 62 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

Romans 2:3-4 ESV / 56 helpful votes

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?

John 3:1-5 ESV / 54 helpful votes

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Luke 4:1-44 ESV / 54 helpful votes

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ...

Matthew 16:1-28 ESV / 54 helpful votes

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. ...

Matthew 14:1-36 ESV / 53 helpful votes

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. ...

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV / 52 helpful votes

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

John 3:3 ESV / 49 helpful votes

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Hebrews 10:1 ESV / 48 helpful votes

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

1 Corinthians 11:1-2 ESV / 48 helpful votes

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV / 48 helpful votes

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

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