The quality of a person or thing that cannot be trusted or relied upon. Scripture notes the unreliability of human nature, while stressing the total reliability of God. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim ? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
"You have acted foolishly," Samuel declared. "You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD."
When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. "Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?" He asked Peter.
Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. "Simon, are you asleep?" He asked. "Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?
When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.
But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.
Like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint is confidence in a faithless man in time of trouble.
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?
Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good."
But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Jesus answered, "See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, claiming, 'I am He,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness." And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated. Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah.
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly— in an instant!
No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you regard your heart as the heart of a god, behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.
For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
But David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
The Rabshakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me? Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the land?'
Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God."
I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him. "For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.
Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
Why do you boast of your valleys— your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, 'Who can come against me?'
You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty. I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.
Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. Behold, the Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.
Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.
For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
"Truly I tell you," Jesus declared, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."
But Jesus replied, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."
Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches? And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own?
That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Then the man went to the second son and told him the same thing. 'I will, sir,' he said. But he did not go.
Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark. But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.
He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"
You were secure in your wickedness; you said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'
But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?'
You say, 'I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
This is the fate of the self-confident and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying, "Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction."
The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.
Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.
Therefore, you will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and your feasting and lounging will come to an end.
My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.
And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, 'See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'"
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts. But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of Hosts. "So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law."
'You wicked, lazy servant!' replied his master. 'You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.
His master replied, 'You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could have collected it with interest?'
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
"Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.
I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother's womb. My praise is always for You.
"I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the One who sent Me is truthful, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world."
For all the promises of God are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him, our "Amen" is spoken to the glory of God.
Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.