Ambition

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Falsely charged against Moses

• Numbers 16:13 Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Parable of the thistle, illustrating

• 2 Kings 14:9 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.

Unclassified Scriptures Relating to

• Job 20:6–7 Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
• Psalm 49:11–13 Their graves are their eternal homes — their dwellings for endless generations — even though their lands were their namesakes. But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of the foolish and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah
• Isaiah 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.
• Habakkuk 2:5–6 and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own. Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and…
• Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
• Matthew 4:8–10 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.” “Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
• Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• Matthew 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him.
• Matthew 23:5–7 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.
• Matthew 23:12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

See Pride

Instances of

Lucifer

• Isaiah 14:12–15 How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations. You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. I w…

Eve

• Genesis 3:5–6 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to…

The builders of Babel

• Genesis 11:4 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

Aaron and Miriam

• Numbers 12:2–10 “Does the LORD speak only through Moses?” they said. “Does He not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard this. Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth. And suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So…

Korah and his co-conspirators

• Numbers 16:3–35 They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. Then he sai…

Abimelech

• Judges 9:1–6 Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother, “Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh a…

Absalom

• 2 Samuel 15:1–13 Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are yo…
• 2 Samuel 18:18 During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.

Ahithophel

• 2 Samuel 17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

Adonijah

• 1 Kings 1:5 At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.

Sennacherib

• 2 Kings 19:23 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its fores…

Haman

• Esther 5:9–13 That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Ze…
• Esther 6:6–9 Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?” And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, have them bring a royal ro…

Diotrephes

• 3 John 1:9–10 I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction. So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting t…