right and wrong
What does the Bible say about right and wrong? These are the passages readers found most helpful — tap any citation to read it in context.
12 passages · most helpful first
17Therefore, he who knows that he ought to do a good thing, and does not do it, for him it is a sin.
20Woe to you who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness; who exchange bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
12There is a way which seems just to a man, but its conclusion leads to death.
19And this is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness more than light. For their works were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not go toward the Light, so that his works may not be corrected. 21But whoever acts in truth goes toward the Light, so that his works may be manifested, because they have been accomplished in God.”
20“But,” he said “the things which go out from a man, these pollute a man. 21For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22thefts, avarice, wickedness, deceitfulness, homosexuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, self-exaltation, foolishness. 23All these evils proceed from within and pollute a man.”
15For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what I do. 16So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good. 17But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me. 18For I know that what is good does not live within me, that is, within my flesh. For the willingness to do good lies close to me, but the carrying out of that good, I cannot reach. 19For I do not do the good that I want to do. But instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20Now if I do what I am not willing to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but the sin which lives within me.
1Let every soul be subject to higher authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those who have been ordained by God.
8You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9For example: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not speak false testimony. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 10The love of neighbor does no harm. Therefore, love is the plenitude of the law.
17Let everything whatsoever that you do, whether in word or in deed, be done all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
6The proverb is: A youth is close to his way; even when he is old, he will not withdraw from it.
12Therefore, all things whatsoever that you wish that men would do to you, do so also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
10For desire is the root of all evils. Some persons, hungering in this way, have strayed from the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.