22 Bible Verses about Useless People

Remember how fleeting my lifetime is;
For what vanity, [for what emptiness, for what futility, for what wisp of smoke] You have created all the sons of men!

for the miscarriage comes in futility (in vain) and passes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

“For He recognizes and knows false and worthless men,
And He sees wickedness, will He not consider it?

“But you smear me with lies [you defame my character most untruthfully];
You are all worthless physicians and have no remedy to offer.

“Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you act vainly and foolishly [cherishing worthless concepts]?

“God who says to a king, ‘You are worthless and vile,’
Or to princes and nobles, ‘You are wicked and evil’?

You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross [for they have no value];
Therefore I love Your testimonies.

These wicked and malevolent people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubborn way of their heart and have followed other gods [which are nothing—just man-made carvings] to serve them and to worship them, let them be just like this waistband which is completely worthless.

All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

When we are slandered, we try to be conciliatory and answer softly. We have become like the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

You have made us scum and refuse
Among the peoples (Gentile nations).

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross (metallic waste) to Me. All of them are (useless) bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you [O Israel] into the midst of Jerusalem.

Once he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you as well as to me.

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross (metallic waste) to Me. All of them are (useless) bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to the worthless and foolish shepherd
Who deserts the flock!
The sword will strike his arm
And his right eye!
His arm shall be totally withered
And his right eye completely blinded.”

And throw out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; in that place [of grief and torment] there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

“All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

So this I say, and solemnly affirm together with the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls],

They profess to know God [to recognize and be acquainted with Him], but by their actions they deny and disown Him. They are detestable and disobedient and worthless for good work of any kind.

Thus says the Lord,

“What injustice or unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me,
That they have wandered far from Me
And [habitually] walked after emptiness and futility and became empty?

They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].

and the field is the world; and [as for] the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one;