Push From God

Bible verses about shame

The first thing the Bible says about shame is that it was not there: Genesis 2:25, naked, and not ashamed. Below are twelve passages on shame and guilt, quoted in full in both translations — including a line of Isaiah that reaches English as haste, as shame and as disappointment, and Psalm 32, where a man stops covering his sin and finds it covered.

12 passages · World English Bible & King James · public domain

  1. The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.Genesis 2:25 · World English Bible

    Naked, and not ashamed. The Bible's first word on shame is that it was absent.

    King James

    And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

  2. Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”Genesis 3:7-10 · World English Bible

    The word 'ashamed' does not come back. Fear and hiding do, before any sentence is passed.

    King James

    And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

  3. Therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily.Isaiah 28:16 · World English Bible

    He who believes shall not make haste — the Hebrew is about hurrying, not about shame.

    King James

    Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

  4. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”Romans 10:11 · World English Bible

    Paul quotes Isaiah from the Greek: ashamed in the King James, disappointed in the modern text.

    King James

    For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

  5. They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.Psalms 34:5 · World English Bible

    They looked to him and were radiant. A word for blushing set against a word for shining.

    King James

    They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

  6. My God, I have trusted in you. Don’t let me be shamed. Don’t let my enemies triumph over me. Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.Psalms 25:2-3 · World English Bible

    Shamed three times in two verses: a request, a promise to those who wait, and a warning.

    King James

    O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

  7. “Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.Isaiah 54:4 · World English Bible

    You will forget the shame of your youth — a promise about shame that goes back a long way.

    King James

    Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

  8. looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:2 · World English Bible

    Despising the shame. The verse does not say it was not real; it says it did not decide anything.

    King James

    Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

  9. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Psalms 32:1 · World English Bible

    Whose sin is covered — the same Hebrew verb the psalmist refuses to use of himself in verse 5.

    King James

    Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

  10. I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Psalms 32:5 · World English Bible

    I didn't hide my iniquity. Literally, I did not cover it — and then it was covered.

    King James

    I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

  11. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.Romans 8:1 · World English Bible

    No condemnation. A courtroom word, three times in the New Testament, all in Romans.

    King James

    There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

  12. “He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.Luke 15:20-22 · World English Bible

    The father runs before the prepared speech is finished.

    King James

    And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Where the word first appears, and where it goes

The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.Genesis 2:25 · World English Bible

“Naked” is arummim and “ashamed” is bosh (6174 and 954). It is the last verse of chapter 2. Then this:

Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”Genesis 3:7-10 · World English Bible

Read both translations and look for “ashamed”. It is not there. What happens instead is covering, hiding and fear — I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself. “Afraid” is yare (3372), the word our page on fear is built on, and “hid” is chaba (2244). Nobody has been sentenced yet. The hiding comes first.

One more thing sits between the two passages. The serpent in Genesis 3:1 is arum, crafty (6175) — on the page, almost the same word as arummim, naked, one verse earlier. Strong’s keeps them as separate entries; the Pulpit Commentary derives both from one root (at Bible Hub). English cannot carry the echo at all.

A line of Isaiah that changes on the way

Therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily.Isaiah 28:16 · World English Bible
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”Romans 10:11 · World English Bible

Isaiah ends: he that believeth shall not make haste. The verb is chush (2363), to hurry. Paul quotes the same line as shall not be ashamed — kataischuno (2617), to be put to shame — because he is quoting the Greek Septuagint, not the Hebrew. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown says so directly: “the quotation is from the Septuagint, which renders those words of the original, ‘shall not make haste’ … ‘shall not be put to shame’”. Meyer adds that Paul’s “whosoever” is in neither the Greek nor the Hebrew (both at Bible Hub’s commentaries on Romans 10:11). Why the Greek differs from the Hebrew here is not settled, and we are not settling it.

Now open the King James on Romans 10:11 in the list above. It says ashamed; the modern rendering says disappointed. So one line reaches English three ways — as haste, as shame and as disappointment — and all three are describing the same promise: that the one who trusts will not be left standing there.

A face that blushes, and a face that shines

They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.Psalms 34:5 · World English Bible

This is a different word for shame. Psalm 34:5 uses chaphar (2659), which the lexicon glosses “to blush”. Against it stands naharu (5102), “to sparkle” — the King James’s lightened, the modern radiant. A face that flushes against a face that lights up, in one verse.

The one who despised it

looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:2 · World English Bible

The verse calls the cross shame and does not pretend otherwise. What it says is that he despised the shame — kataphroneo (2706) against aischune (152), shame — for the joy set before him. It does not say the shame was not real. It says it was not the thing that decided anything.

Guilt is a different word, and a different verb

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Psalms 32:1 · World English Bible
I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Psalms 32:5 · World English Bible

“I didn’t hide my iniquity” is, word for word, I did not cover it: the verb is kasah (3680), to cover. And the first line of the same psalm calls the forgiven man the one “whose sin is covered” — the same verb. He stops covering it, and it is covered. English says “hid” here and “hid” in Genesis 3, but Genesis 3 is chaba and Psalm 32 is kasah; the psalm’s point needs its own verb.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.Romans 8:1 · World English Bible

“Condemnation” here is katakrima (2631), which the lexicon describes as “the exact sentence of condemnation handed down after due process”. It occurs three times in the New Testament, all in Romans (5:16, 5:18 and 8:1). It is a courtroom word, and the verse says there is none.

“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.Luke 15:20-22 · World English Bible

The son has a speech prepared, and the father is running before he can finish it. There is a detail in this passage that most retellings skip; our Father’s Day page sets it out rather than running it twice.

What this page is not

It is a set of passages with their context, not counsel, and it takes no position on questions Christians argue about. If shame has become constant — if it has turned into dread, or into thinking people would be better off without you — please talk to someone. The National Institute of Mental Health explains the signs of depression, and in the US you can call or text 988 at any hour (the 988 Lifeline, run through SAMHSA). Our pages for forgiveness and loneliness may also be the ones you want.

What this looks like on a phone

Push From God sends one of these when it fits what you've told it about your week — not on a schedule you have to keep up with.

Push From God11:52 PM

For the thing you keep replaying

I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Psalm 32:5

He stopped covering it, and the first line of the same psalm says it was covered.

It isn't out yet.

Leave your address and we'll send exactly one email, on the day it launches.

One email when it launches. No newsletter, no drip sequence, no sharing your address. Unsubscribe is a reply.

Questions

What does the Bible say about shame?

It begins with its absence — Genesis 2:25, naked and not ashamed — and the next chapter shows hiding and fear before any judgment is given. Psalm 34:5 and Isaiah 54:4 promise that those who look to God will not be put to shame, and Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus endured the cross 'despising the shame'.

Is shame the same as guilt in the Bible?

The vocabulary is different. Guilt passages such as Psalm 32 and Romans 8:1 use the language of sin, covering and condemnation — Romans 8:1's 'condemnation' is a courtroom verdict. Shame passages use words for being exposed, blushing or being disappointed.

Why does Romans 10:11 say 'ashamed' when Isaiah 28:16 says 'make haste'?

Paul is quoting the Greek Septuagint, which renders Isaiah's Hebrew 'shall not make haste' as 'shall not be put to shame'. Commentators including Jamieson-Fausset-Brown note it. The modern World English Bible renders Romans 10:11 as 'will not be disappointed'.

Related