40 Bible Verses about Leaders, Spiritual

And no man who is not given authority by God, as Aaron was, takes this honour for himself.

Now let Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron, and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons.

For he, and his sons after him for ever, have been marked out by the Lord your God from all your tribes, to do the work of priests in the name of the Lord.

Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place, to keep the memory of them before the Lord. And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times.

He will take his place before Eleazar the priest, so that he may get directions from the Lord for him, with the Urim: at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, he and all the children of Israel.

Now every high priest is given authority to take to God the things which are given and to make offerings; so that it is necessary for this man, like them, to have something for an offering.

For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.

Teaching the children of Israel all the laws which the Lord has given them by the hand of Moses.

These are the words of the Lord of armies: Put now a point of law to the priests, saying, If anyone has some holy flesh folded in the skirt of his robe, will bread or soup or wine or oil or any other food be made holy if touched by his skirt? And the priests answering said, No. Then Haggai said, Will any of these be made unclean by the touch of one who is unclean through touching a dead body? And the priests answering said, It will be made unclean.

And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you. So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah. Now when the Philistines had news that the children of Israel had come together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the children of Israel, hearing of it, were full of fear.read more.
And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Go on crying to the Lord our God for us to make us safe from the hands of the Philistines. And Samuel took a young lamb, offering all of it as a burned offering to the Lord; and Samuel made prayers to the Lord for Israel and the Lord gave him an answer.

And when the work was done, they took the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used for making the vessels for the house of the Lord, all the vessels needed for the offerings, the spoons and the vessels of gold and silver. And as long as Jehoiada was living, the regular burned offerings were offered in the house of the Lord.

For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go, and say to this people, You will go on hearing, but learning nothing; you will go on seeing, but without getting wiser.

Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations.

Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines. So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.

Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart; And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false. For the Lord will not give his people up, because of the honour of his name; for it was the Lord's pleasure to make of you a people for himself.read more.
And as for me, never will I go against the orders of the Lord by giving up my prayers for you: but I will go on teaching you the good and right way. Only go in the fear of the Lord, and be his true servants with all your heart, keeping in mind what great things he has done for you.

Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after the Baals. Now send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and got the prophets together at Mount Carmel.read more.
And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways. Go up to the hills and get wood and put up the house; and I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You were looking for much, and it came to little; and when you got it into your house, I took it away with a breath. Why? says the Lord of armies. Because of my house which is a waste, while every man takes care of the house which is his.

And he got together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, questioning them as to where the birth-place of the Christ would be.

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, made a request to him to give them a sign from heaven.

And when he had come into the Temple, the chief priests and those in authority over the people came to him while he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things? and who gave you this authority?

The scribes and the Pharisees have the authority of Moses;

Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for false witness against Jesus, so that they might put him to death;

And further, these are uncertain through wine, and have gone out of the right way through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are uncertain through strong drink, they are overcome by wine, they have gone out of the way through strong drink; their vision is false, they go wrong in their decisions.

For the prophet as well as the priest is unclean; even in my house I have seen their evil-doing, says the Lord.

And now, O you priests, this order is for you. If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.

They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them But all their works they do so as to be seen by men: for they make wide their phylacteries, and the edges of their robes, And the things desired by them are the first places at feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues,read more.
And words of respect in the market-places, and to be named by men, Teacher. But you may not be named Teacher: for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. And give no man the name of father on earth: because one is your Father, who is in heaven. And you may not be named guides: because one is your Guide, even Christ. But let the greatest among you be your servant. And whoever makes himself high will be made low, and whoever makes himself low will be made high. But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back. [ A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you go about land and sea to get one disciple and, having him, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

And Jesus made them come to him, and said to them, You see that those who are made rulers over the Gentiles are lords over them, and their great ones have authority over them. But it is not so among you: but whoever has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant: And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him be servant of all.read more.
For truly the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

And no one among them was in need; for everyone who had land or houses, exchanging them for money, took the price of them, And put it at the feet of the Apostles for distribution to everyone as he had need.

And the Apostles sent for all the disciples and said, It is not right for us to give up preaching the word of God in order to make distribution of food. Take then from among you seven men of good name, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, to whom we may give control of this business.

And when they had made selection of some to be rulers in every church, and had given themselves to prayer and kept themselves from food, they put them into the care of the Lord in whom they had faith.

I did not take you with me when I went away from Crete, so that you might do what was necessary to put things in order there, placing men in authority over the churches in every town, as I said to you;

This is a true saying, A man desiring the position of a Bishop has a desire for a good work. The Bishop, then, is to be a man of good name, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, serious-minded, having respect for order, opening his house freely to guests, a ready teacher; Not quickly moved to wrath or blows, but gentle; no fighter, no lover of money;read more.
Ruling his house well, having his children under control with all serious behaviour; (For if a man has not the art of ruling his house, how will he take care of the church of God?) Not one newly taken into the church, for fear that, through his high opinion of himself, he may come into the same sin as the Evil One. And he is to have a good name among those outside the church, so that nothing may be said against him and he may not be taken by the designs of the Evil One. Deacons, in the same way, are to be serious in their behaviour, not false in word, not given to taking much wine or greatly desiring the wealth of this world; Keeping the secret of the faith in a heart free from sin.

Men having a good record, husbands of one wife, whose children are of the faith, children of whom it may not be said that they are given to loose living or are uncontrolled. For it is necessary for a Bishop to be a man of virtue, as God's servant; not pushing himself forward, not quickly moved to wrath or blows, not desiring profit for himself; But opening his house freely to guests; a lover of what is good, serious-minded, upright, holy, self-controlled;read more.
Keeping to the true word of the teaching, so that he may be able to give comfort by right teaching and overcome the arguments of the doubters.

Give attention to yourselves, and to all the flock which the Holy Spirit has given into your care, to give food to the church of God, for which he gave his blood.

So keep watch, having in mind that for three years without resting I was teaching every one of you, day and night, with weeping.

Let rulers whose rule is good be honoured twice over, specially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Writings say, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. And, The worker has a right to his reward. Do not take as true any statement made against one in authority, but only if two or three give witness to it.read more.
Say sharp words to sinners when all are present, so that the rest may be in fear.

Keep watch over the flock of God which is in your care, using your authority, not as forced to do so, but gladly; and not for unclean profit but with a ready mind; Not as lords over God's heritage, but making yourselves examples to the flock.