'Leaders' in the Bible

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet

But a suitable day came, when Herod gave a banquet on his birthday for his court officials, military commanders, and leaders of Galilee.

When people bring you before synagogue leaders, rulers, or authorities, don't worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,

It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.

Every day He was teaching in the temple complex. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to destroy Him,

Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people,

The people stood watching, and even the leaders kept scoffing: “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him.

This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and descendants of Levi to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?"

The Jewish leaders said, "This sanctuary has been under construction for 46 years, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?"

So the Jewish leaders told the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

The man went off and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

So the Jewish leaders began persecuting Jesus, because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

So the Jewish leaders were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Then the Jewish leaders began grumbling about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

Then the Jewish leaders debated angrily with each other, asking, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, because he didn't want to travel in Judea, since the Jewish leaders there were trying to kill him.

The Jewish leaders kept looking for him at the festival, asking, "Where is that man?"

Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders were astonished and remarked, "How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?"

Then the Jewish leaders tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

Then the Jewish leaders asked one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we won't be able to find him? Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

So the Jewish leaders were asking, "He isn't going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, "You cannot come where I'm going'?"

The Jewish leaders replied to him, "Surely we're right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon, aren't we?"

Then the Jewish leaders told him, "Now we really know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "You are not even 50 years old, yet you have seen Abraham?"

The Jewish leaders did not believe that the man had been blind and had gained sight until they summoned his parents

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, since the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue.

The Jewish leaders summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner."

So the Jewish leaders surrounded him and quizzed him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you're the Messiah, tell us so plainly."

Again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone him to death.

The Jewish leaders answered him, "We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!"

The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again?"

Little children, I'm with you only a little longer. You will look for me, but what I told the Jewish leaders I now tell you, "Where I'm going, you cannot come.'

Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.

(Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)

Pilate told them, "Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!" The Jewish leaders replied, "We cannot legally put anyone to death."

The Jewish leaders told him, "It is not legal for us to put anyone to death." This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "What is "truth'?" and then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him."

The Jewish leaders answered Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that Law he must die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, "If you release this fellow, you're not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!"

Now it was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. He told the Jewish leaders, "Here is your king!"

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

Later on, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and he came and removed his body.

It was the evening of the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, "Peace be with you."

“And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

Now when the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.

They said to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

After several days had gone by, the Jewish leaders plotted to murder Saul,

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”

For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders, not knowing who Jesus was, condemned him and so fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to object to the statements made by Paul and even to abuse him.

But the Jewish leaders stirred up devout women of high social standing and the officials in the city, started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their territory.

Then the apostles, the elders, and the whole church decided to choose some of their men to send with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. These were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, who were leaders among the brothers.

But the Jewish leaders became jealous, and they took some contemptible characters who used to hang out in the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the people.

But when the Jewish leaders in Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul also in Berea, they went there to upset and incite the crowds.

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jewish leaders gathered together, attacked Paul, and brought him before the judge's seat.

Paul was about to speak when Gallio admonished the Jewish leaders, "If there were some misdemeanor or crime involved, it would be reasonable to put up with you Jews.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, "This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.'"

In the morning, the Jewish leaders formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul.

He answered, "The Jewish leaders have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Council tomorrow as though they were going to examine his case more carefully.

The Jewish leaders supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true.

Then the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed,

"So," he said, "let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him."

When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and began bringing a number of serious charges against him that they couldn't prove.

Then Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders a favor, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried there before me on these charges?"

But Paul said, "I am standing before the emperor's judgment seat where I ought to be tried. I haven't done anything wrong to the Jewish leaders, as you know very well.

"I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I can defend myself today against all the accusations of the Jewish leaders,

For this reason the Jewish leaders grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me.

After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

The Jewish leaders told him, "We haven't received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you.

Yet we do speak wisdom among those spiritually mature [believers who have teachable hearts and a greater understanding]; but [it is a higher] wisdom not [the wisdom] of this present age nor of the rulers and leaders of this age, who are passing away;

a wisdom which not one of the leaders of the present age possesses, for if they had possessed it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

to be subject to such leaders [treating them with courtesy and respect], and to everyone who helps in the work and labors [for the benefit of yourselves and the church].

I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles—but privately to those recognized as leaders—so that I might not be running, or have run the race, in vain.

But from those who were influential (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people) -- those influential leaders added nothing to my message.

So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently work among you [recognize, acknowledge, and respect your leaders], who are in charge over you in the Lord and who give you instruction,

The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy greet you.

For many deceivers [heretics, posing as Christians] have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge and confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh (bodily form). This [person, the kind who does this] is the deceiver and the antichrist [that is, the antagonist of Christ].

And the kings of the earth, and the most important people, and the military leaders, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,

for they are [actually] the spirits of demons, performing [miraculous] signs. And they go out to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over and dominates and controls the kings and the political leaders of the earth.”

For all the nations have drunk from the wine of the passion of her [sexual] immorality, and the kings and political leaders of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth and economic power of her sensuous luxury.”

“And the kings and political leaders of the earth, who committed immorality and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and beat their chests [in mourning] over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

Then I saw the beast and the kings and political leaders of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who is mounted on the [white] horse and against His army.

The nations [the redeemed people from the earth] will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring into it their glory.