38 Bible Verses about Character

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. read more.
And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!

My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!

He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.

Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"

But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

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

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

"Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?"

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?"

heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, "Let the will of the Lord be done."

And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono." But they intended to do me harm.

Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.

Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.

And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

"There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; read more.
we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse"--

But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him.

All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

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

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,

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'

Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?

Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.

The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.

When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,

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

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.

Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.

And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

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

For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'"

Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,

Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

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.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.

And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

"Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Childrenhave I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;

For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.

those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God."

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.

"And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

"If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, 'I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,' then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. read more.
And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, "I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity." And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days.

For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. read more.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" read more.
And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it--he went up to my couch!

Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed.

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."

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

Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.

A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful."

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'

But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation."

They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.

The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.