20 Bible Verses About Hypocrisy

Published

November 20, 2025

Updated

September 25, 2026

Summary

The Greek hupokrites first meant a stage actor, and in Matthew 6:2, 5 and 16 Jesus uses it of people who give, pray and fast to be seen by others.
Isaiah 29:13 describes honouring God with the lips while the heart is far from him, and Jesus quotes it against the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 15:7-9.
Matthew 7:3-5 and Romans 2:1 treat condemning in others a fault one practises oneself as hypocrisy.
In Galatians 2:13 Paul says the Jewish believers at Antioch, and even Barnabas, joined Peter’s hypocrisy when he drew back from eating with Gentiles.
Romans 12:9 and James 3:17 use anupokritos, without hypocrisy, for genuine love and for the wisdom from above.

In the Bible, hypocrisy is a show of goodness over a heart that is elsewhere. Isaiah 29:13 describes people who honour God with their lips while their hearts are far from him, and Jesus quotes the verse against the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus warns his own disciples against hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), and Paul records Peter and Barnabas falling into it at Antioch (Galatians 2:13). The Greek noun behind “hypocrite” is hupokrites, which Strong’s defines as “an actor under an assumed…

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Bibliography (Click to show)

Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.

Strong’s Greek 5273, ὑποκριτής (hupokrites): an actor under an assumed character (stage-player); figuratively, a dissembler. biblehub.com/greek/5273

Strong’s Greek 5272, ὑπόκρισις (hupokrisis): hypocrisy. biblehub.com/greek/5272

Strong’s Greek 505, ἀνυπόκριτος (anupokritos): without hypocrisy, unfeigned, sincere, genuine. biblehub.com/greek/505

Strong’s Hebrew 2611, חָנֵף (chaneph): godless; rendered “hypocrite” in the King James Version. biblehub.com/hebrew/2611

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20 Bible Verses About Hypocrisy

Summary

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