The 25 Creepiest and Scariest Bible Verses

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Unlocking the darkest verses in the Bible
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Even though the Bible contains messages of love and faith, there’s a dark side to many of the stories. God’s wrath and judgment can be severe for those who oppose Him. The Bible also contains stories full of graphic violence , rules that seem questionable by today’s standards, descriptions of malevolent supernatural forces , and a whole book dedicated to a dark prophecy of the apocalypse . Want to know more? We’ve rounded up the creepiest verses just for you.

5 Creepiest Bible Verses

  • Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
  • Hebrews 10:27: “No sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
  • 2 Kings 6:28–29: “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him.”
  • 2 Kings 8:12: “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”
  • 1 Peter 5:8: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Section 1 of 5:

Creepy Bible Verses About Divine Judgment and Consequences

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  1. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” [1]
    • Why is it creepy? Imagine thinking that you’ve lived as a follower your whole life, only to be told on the day of judgment that you were an ‘evildoer.’ This passage illustrates the importance of relying on God’s word for guidance, and not just listening to people who may be interpreting the Bible incorrectly.
  2. 2
    1 Corinthians 6:9–10 “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
    • Why is it creepy? In this verse, Paul lists a variety of sins that can keep people from heaven. This in itself is creepy enough—it seems to oppose the belief that Jesus came to forgive all sins. But on top of that, this verse is often used to justify homophobic beliefs.
    • Need to know: The Greek words that are thought to refer to homosexuality are malakoi and arsenokoitai . The word malakoi was often used to refer to male prostitutes, and arsenokoitai is an obscure word with an ambiguous meaning. Many people believe it specifically refers to male abusers—not people in committed, monogamous relationships.
    • Additional context: 1 Corinthians 6:11 continues with an offer of hope: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
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  3. 3
    1 Thessalonians 1:8–10 “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
    • Why is it creepy? According to Paul, the consequence for not having a relationship with God is an eternity being separated from Him—not to mention being punished with “everlasting destruction.”
  4. 4
    Hebrews 10:26–27 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” [2]
    • Why is it creepy? This is another verse that calls into question the permanence of salvation. And unlike the verse in 1 Corinthians, this one does directly address followers—not false prophets.
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Section 2 of 5:

Bible Verses with Violence and Disturbing Imagery

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  1. 1
    2 Kings 6:25–29 “There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels. As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, ‘Help me, the lord, the king!’ The king replied … ‘What’s the matter?’ She answered, ‘This woman said to me, “Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.” So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘“Give up your son so we may eat him,” but she had hidden him.’”
    • Why is it creepy? This passage contains a heartbreaking story of a famine so severe that people resorted to cannibalizing their own family members. It’s without a doubt one of the darkest moments in the entire Bible.
    • Additional context: Sieges of this sort were prophesied in Deuteronomy 28:53: “Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.”
  2. 2
    2 Kings 8:12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” [Elisha] answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”
    • Why is it creepy? The prophet Elisha has a vision that Hazael, a high-ranking soldier, will become king of Aram, and that his reign will be filled with violence against the Israelites. [3] The description of the violence is graphic and terrifying.
  3. 3
    Exodus 12:29–30 “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” [4]
    • Why is it creepy? After Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites from captivity, God killed the firstborn in every Egyptian household. The amount of loss must have been heartbreaking, especially considering so many people were held responsible for the actions of their leader.
  4. 4
    Genesis 22:2 “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’” [5]
    • Why is it creepy? The passage where God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac is deeply disturbing—Abraham obeys the order, apparently passing the test of faith. He is holding the knife in his hand when he’s stopped by God’s angel, who directs Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead.
  5. 5
    Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.” [6]
    • Why is it creepy? This verse describes graphic, violent consequences for dishonoring one’s elders.
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Section 3 of 5:

Bible Verses That Are Morally Ambiguous

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  1. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”
    • Why is it creepy? This verse encourages God’s followers to submit to the rule of their emperor or governor. It does not make exceptions for tyrannical rule.
    • Additional context: This passage doesn’t get much better. 1 Peter 2:18 continues: “Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourself to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.”
  2. 2
    2 Peter 2:20–21 “If they have escaped the corruption of our world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
    • Why is it creepy? This verse appears to contradict the “once saved, always saved” doctrine held by most Christians. If it’s true that you can backslide into sin and lose your salvation, then salvation is based on work and not faith.
    • Additional context: This chapter may not be referring simply to Christians who fall back into sin. 2 Peter 2:1 begins, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” 2 Peter 2:3 continues, “Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
  3. 3
    Deuteronomy 20:10–14 “When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves.”
    • Why is it creepy? This passage gives insight into ancient warfare—it’s violent and ruthless. In the best-case scenario, a city surrenders immediately, and the entire population is taken into slavery.
    • Additional context: In Deuteronomy 20:16–17, God commands the Israelites to show even less mercy to certain enemies: “However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you.”
  4. 4
    Deuteronomy 22:20–21 “If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death.” [7]
    • Why is it creepy? In the Old Testament, having sex outside of marriage was considered a serious sin. That’s made obvious in this verse, where the people are instructed to kill a young bride if her husband finds her not to be a virgin.
    • Additional context: The penalty for a man falsely accusing his bride of not being a virgin is described in Deuteronomy 22:19, and it’s significantly less severe: a fine of 100 shekels of silver.
  5. 5
    Ephesians 5:22–24 “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
    • Why is it creepy? This verse didn’t age well—it’s at odds with modern ideas of equality between men and women.
    • Additional context: Ephesians 5:28 does have instructions for husbands that provided some balance for ancient marriages: “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
  6. 6
    Genesis 19:32 “Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” [8]
    • Why is it creepy? After Lot fled the city of Sodom, he lived in a cave with his two daughters. Because there were no other men around for the daughters to marry, they decided to get their father drunk so they could sleep with him and have children.
    • Additional context: Apparently, the women’s plan worked. The older daughter had a son named Moab who became the father of the Moabites, and the younger daughter had a son named Ben-Ammi who became the father of the Ammonites.
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Section 4 of 5:

Bible Verses About Supernatural Entities and Curses

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  1. 1
    Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
    • Why is it creepy? In this verse, the ‘serpent’ (usually interpreted as the devil) approaches Eve, tempting her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree and introducing sin to mankind. This passage raises a lot of questions—why did God create a tree that Adam and Eve couldn’t eat from? Why did He allow the serpent to tempt Eve?
  2. 2
    Acts 19:13–16 “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day, the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”
    • Why is it creepy? The Jewish priest’s sons are not described as believers, which seems to indicate that they do not have authority over the evil spirit. And the evil spirit seems to give the possessed man supernatural power—he has enough strength to viciously beat 7 adult men.
  3. 3
    2 Corinthians 11:14–15 “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, that his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.” [9]
    • Why is it creepy? We usually picture the devil as being obviously evil, but he’s more insidious than that—often appearing as a force of light or goodness. His false prophets, too, usually appear to be speaking God’s word.
    • Additional context: At the end of verse 15, Paul points out that these false prophets will have a reckoning: “Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
  4. 4
    1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
    • Why is it creepy? This verse paints the devil as active and hungry. It’s terrifying to picture an evil force creeping among humans like a lion stalking its prey.
  5. 5
    Daniel 12:2 “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
    • Why is it creepy? If seeing the dead rising from the earth isn’t creepy enough, the idea of being brought back to life just to face judgment definitely is.
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Section 5 of 5:

Creepy Bible Verses About Revelations

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  1. “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” [10]
    • Why is it creepy? This apocalyptic vision describes angels unleashing havoc on the earth, with massive deaths and destruction covering the planet, including earth and sea. It’s a dark prophecy, leaving many to interpret natural disasters as signs of the end times.
    • Additional context: This is only the beginning—in the following chapters, Revelation goes on to describe darkness, plagues, and the horsemen of the apocalypse being released on earth.
  2. 2
    Revelations 14:9–11 “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever.” [11]
    • Why is it creepy? The punishment for followers of the apocalyptic beast described in Revelation is scary enough. But the idea that you could get the mark of the beast (a symbol on your forehead or hand) without knowing it, leading to eternal torment, is utterly terrifying.
  3. 3
    Revelations 20:7–10 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number, they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night.” [12]
    • Why is it creepy? In this passage, Satan emerges after being locked in the Abyss for 1,000 years. He amasses a huge army of followers. God’s wrath is swift and mighty—the followers are burned up, and Satan is condemned to eternity in a lake of sulfur.
  4. 4
    Revelations 20:13 “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” [13]
    • Why is it creepy? This passage describes a second death of eternal fire for anyone who isn’t found in God’s book of life—being brought back from the dead only to be tormented eternally is about as creepy as it gets.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+7&version=NIV
      2. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+10&version=NIV
      3. ↑ https://www.gotquestions.org/Hazael-in-the-Bible.html
      4. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+12&version=NIV
      5. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+22&version=NIV
      6. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov+30&version=NIV
      7. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+22&version=NIV
      8. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+19&version=NIV
      9. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+cor+11&version=NIV
      1. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+8&version=NIV
      2. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+14&version=NIV
      3. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+20&version=NIV
      4. ↑ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+20&version=NIV

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