55 Bible Verses about Government

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.

Do not withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down.

In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for princes to take strong drink, lest they drink, and forget the decree, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish; and wine to the bitter in soul: read more.
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, 'One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. You will prolong the king's life; his years shall be for generations. He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.

Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

and I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

who foils the omens of the empty talkers, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men back, and makes their knowledge foolish;

The king's heart is in the LORD's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.

He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God's creation, says these things: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. read more.
Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;' and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to put on your eyes, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones' sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This saying is faithful: "For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.

As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my mind troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the true meaning concerning all this. So he told me, and revealed to me the interpretation of these things. These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who shall arise out of the earth. read more.
But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever. Then I desired to know the true meaning concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its claws of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped what was left with its feet. And concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke arrogant things, whose look was larger than the others. I saw, and the same horn made war with the holy ones, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the holy ones of the Most High, and the time came that the holy ones possessed the kingdom. This he said, 'The fourth animal shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise, and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall oppress the holy ones of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given over to him until a time and times and half a time. And the court shall sit in judgment, and they shall take away his dominion, consumed and completely destroyed forever. The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.'

The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed." They began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. There arose also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. read more.
He said to them, "The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves. For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Is not it he who sits at the table? But I am in the midst of you as one who serves. But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: "The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things: "I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. read more.
I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. I will kill her children with Death, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, who do not know what some call 'the deep things of Satan,' to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you. Nevertheless, hold that which you have firmly until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father: and I will give him the morning star.

Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"

They answered him, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" They threw him out.

"'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

but the soul who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that belongs to the LORD, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.

and doesn't bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to sacrifice it to the LORD; that man shall be cut off from his people.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "'House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the LORD. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.' At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; read more.
if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.

Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food? read more.
With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding. "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools. He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt. He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death. He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

and give them a command to their masters, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters: "I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him. read more.
All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondservant. It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him to Pilate, the governor.

When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?"

Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people."

But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things:

(but if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers;

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. read more.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You heard how I told you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no hold on me.

Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, to prevent the light shining from the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, and about righteousness, and about judgment; about sin, because they do not believe in me; read more.
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you won't see me any more; about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature, but a wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who will pass away. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Let them praise the LORD for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works for the children of men. Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground, read more.
and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs. There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in, sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase. He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn't allow their livestock to decrease. Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow. He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.

and ate and drink before the LORD on that day with great gladness. They made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him to the LORD to be prince, and Zadok to be priest.

All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God's house. He said to them, "Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David.

The LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight. You shall put of your honor on him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey. read more.
He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation." Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: and he laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as the LORD spoke by Moses.

Samuel said to all the people, "You see him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?" All the people shouted, and said, "Let the king live."

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah; and they said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." Samuel prayed to the LORD. read more.
The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you. Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them." Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked of him a king. He said, "This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. He will take your male servants, and your female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you shall be his servants. You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice, and make them a king." Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Every man go to his city."

The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

Then you spoke in vision to your holy ones, and said, "I have bestowed strength on the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people. I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil, with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him. read more.
No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him. I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him. But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. He will call to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. I will keep my loving kindness for him forevermore. My covenant will stand firm with him. I will also make his seed endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my Law, and do not walk in my ordinances; if they break my statutes, and do not keep my commandments; then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered. Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." Selah.

Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first, read more.
and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD tells you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever."'"

Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, "Hear me, my brothers, and my people. As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building. But God said to me, 'You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.' However the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. read more.
Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the LORD's kingdom over Israel. He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever, if he continues to do my commandments and my ordinances, as at this day.'

"Behold, God is mighty, and doesn't despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding. He doesn't preserve the life of the wicked, but gives to the afflicted their right. He doesn't withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.

All the people answered together, and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

At the commandment of the LORD, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you this day;

Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you."

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

After five days, the high priest, Ananias, came down with certain elders and an orator, one Tertullus. They informed the governor against Paul.

Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.

Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: then Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,

and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him to Pilate, the governor.

Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning;

of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ; I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am of good courage toward you.

are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;

Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? And what place shall be my rest?

Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.

The LORD has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

but I tell you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

The LORD shall reign forever and ever."

Tell God, "How awesome are your deeds. Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you. All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name." Selah. Come, and see God's deeds?awesome work on behalf of the children of men. read more.
He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him. He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Do not let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah.

The LORD will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD.

The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, "The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God's throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.

Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained."

I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are appointed by God. Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same, read more.
for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, attending continually on this very thing. Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.

Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the tax money." They brought to him a denarius. read more.
He asked them, "Whose is this image and inscription?" They said to him, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

He said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well. For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: read more.
as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?" They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then carry him out, and stone him to death." read more.
The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and is dead."

There stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, 'The LORD doesn't see us. The LORD has forsaken the land.'"

Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? You see to it."

Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. read more.
Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then carry him out, and stone him to death." The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and is dead." It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day." King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. It was told king Solomon, "Joab has fled to the Tent of the LORD, and behold, he is by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him." Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come forth.'" He said, "No; but I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me." read more.
The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house. The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from the LORD." Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head." Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. read more.
It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath." Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again. The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not adjure you by the LORD, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.' Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?" The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness on your own head. But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever." So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt, and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, read more.
"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you." He said to them, "Depart for three days, then come back to me." The people departed. King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?" They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'" The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'" So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day." The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of the LORD, that he might establish his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel. Now see to your own house, David." So Israel departed to their tents.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him. For man does not see as God sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons."

Then you spoke in vision to your holy ones, and said, "I have bestowed strength on the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people. I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil, with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him. read more.
No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him. I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him. But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted. I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. He will call to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. I will keep my loving kindness for him forevermore. My covenant will stand firm with him. I will also make his seed endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my Law, and do not walk in my ordinances; if they break my statutes, and do not keep my commandments; then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered. Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." Selah.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. read more.
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever."'"

Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,

It was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?"

The LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them,

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD, their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?"

Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces),

It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,

Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.

"Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three administrators, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. Then this Daniel was distinguished above the administrators and the satraps, because an extraordinary spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

The LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

For the kingdom is the LORD's. He is the ruler over the nations.

Moreover the LORD will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is day. What? Even now.

The word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, "Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you ruler over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. read more.
The dogs will eat Baasha's descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field the birds of the sky will eat."

However the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the LORD's kingdom over Israel.

Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; read more.
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. All the people answered together, and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances: you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul. You have declared the LORD this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice: and the LORD has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments; read more.
and to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, as he has spoken.

These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders: read more.
but the LORD has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am the LORD your God. When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them: and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. You stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your foreigner who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water; that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you this day; that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." Samuel prayed to the LORD. The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.

Now the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went to Joram: for when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."

Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt, and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, read more.
"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you." He said to them, "Depart for three days, then come back to me." The people departed. King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?" They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'" The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'" So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day." The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of the LORD, that he might establish his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel. Now see to your own house, David." So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day. It happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, "Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned and went their way, according to the word of the LORD.

So the king did not listen to the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

'Thus says the LORD, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers. Return every man to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

It happened on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?" Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God. read more.
When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws." Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone. Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God. You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you. If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also will go to their place in peace." So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

The LORD said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.

Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent. The LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

I spoke to you at that time, saying, "I am not able to bear you myself alone: The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude. The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you. read more.
How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you." You answered me, and said, "The thing which you have spoken is good to do." So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. I commanded your judges at that time, saying, "Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it."

It happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD.

It happened in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there on me.

Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.

"Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you."'

I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice? You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. read more.
Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil."

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?" He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.' He answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." read more.
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then carry him out, and stone him to death." The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.

Take away the wicked from the king's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Isn't the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us."

"You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Do not curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and do not curse the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.

He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken will we do, and be obedient."

Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. All the people answered together, and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken will we do."

You stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your foreigner who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water; that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you this day; read more.
that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who stands here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day

Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are appointed by God. Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same, read more.
for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, attending continually on this very thing. Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.

God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness. read more.
He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces. They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper. He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight. They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long. There shall be abundance of grain throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field. His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.

A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when someone told me, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' thinking to have brought good news, I took hold of him, and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?" read more.
David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.

David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" He answered, "I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite." David said to him, "How were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?" David called one of the young men, and said, "Go near, and fall on him." He struck him, so that he died. read more.
David said to him, "Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have slain the LORD's anointed.'"

It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He wrote in the letter, saying, "Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die." It happened, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. read more.
The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Isn't the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us." read more.
Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy.

The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel.

So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.

Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, "In times past, you sought for David to be king over you. Now then do it; for the LORD has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.'" Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and to the whole house of Benjamin. read more.
So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast. Abner said to David, "I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires." David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.

So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to it."

At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, saying, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called "The Pavement," but in Hebrew, "Gabbatha." Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, here is your King." read more.
They shouted, "Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him." Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus.

The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." As Samuel turned about to go away, he grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'

The prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? So would you endanger my head with the king."

The king answered the Chaldeans, "The thing is gone from me: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a rubbish heap. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore show me the dream and its interpretation." They answered the second time and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation." read more.
The king answered, "I know of a certainty that you would gain time, because you see the thing is gone from me. But if you do not make known to me the dream, there is but one law for you; for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, until such time that things might change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation." The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, "There is not a man on the earth who can show the king's matter, because no king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean. It is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no other who can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be killed.

And because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he killed, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.

Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back: read more.
therefore, behold, I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone. He who dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat: for the LORD has spoken it."' Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child shall die. All Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover the LORD will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is day. What? Even now. For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger. He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin."

Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha killed him, and reigned in his place. It happened that, as soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam: he did not leave to Jeroboam any who breathed, until he had destroyed him; according to the saying of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; read more.
for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

"Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'These people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.'"

Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the City of David, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the City of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. All the elders of Israel came: and the Levites took up the ark;

When you have come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me"; you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom the LORD your God shall choose: one from among your brothers you shall set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, "You shall not go back that way again." read more.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law on a scroll, out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you." You answered me, and said, "The thing which you have spoken is good to do." So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.

Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and tell them, "We are your servants. Now make a covenant with us."'

Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn't know how to receive admonition any more. For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.

Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning.

Blessed are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness.

Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, ?Has not the LORD anointed you to be ruler over his people Israel? And you shall rule over the people of the LORD, and you shall save them out of the hand of their enemies all around. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be ruler over his inheritance.

Now the LORD had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, "Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked on my people, because their cry has come to me." When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, "Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall have authority over my people."

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

My son, fear the LORD and the king. Do not join those who are rebellious: for their calamity will rise suddenly; the destruction from them both?who knows?

Now when these things were completed, the leaders approached me and said, "The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

and that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the officials and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the broad place before God's house, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, "You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. read more.
Now therefore make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women." Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, "As you have said concerning us, so must we do. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside; neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Let now our leaders represent the whole assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter is resolved."

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah; and they said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." Samuel prayed to the LORD. read more.
The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you. Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them." Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked of him a king.

But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. read more.
The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice, and make them a king." Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Every man go to his city."

The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion. In rebellion, a land has many rulers, but order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.

Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

Saul said, "Hear now, you son of Ahitub." He answered, "Here I am, my lord." Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?" Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house? read more.
Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me. Do not let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more." The king said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house." The king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn, and kill the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me." But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of the LORD. The king said to Doeg, "Turn and attack the priests." Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances; and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and he shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him,

King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?" They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Saul said, "God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan." The people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

The LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal line in Edom.

God raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah.

When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house. Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the officials and to all the people, saying, "This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears." Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. read more.
Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes. Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears." Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: "This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God." Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, "Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."' Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD, and entreat the favor of the LORD, and the LORD relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls. "There was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt. And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people." But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

For the scepter of wickedness won't remain over the allotment of the righteous; so that the righteous won't use their hands to do evil.

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not obey that which the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. read more.
Notwithstanding I will not do it in your days, for David your father's sake; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."

Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. read more.
That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. "Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce in the seven plenteous years. Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine." The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you." Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, "Bow the knee." He set him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-Paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was around every city, he laid up in the same. Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." The name of the second, he called Ephraim: "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

So immediately the king sent out a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring John's head, and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother.

All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt. or would that we had died in this wilderness. Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?" read more.
They said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes: and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them." But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The glory of the LORD appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, "Please notice how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I did not deny him." All the elders and all the people said to him, "Do not listen, neither consent."

Also in the third year of his reign he sent his officials, even Ben Hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

Then he said, "I have sinned: yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."

that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances; read more.
then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.' But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land, and to this house?' and they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.'"

The LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house.

Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

The king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in some of the children of Israel, even of the royal family and of the nobles; youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and endowed with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the language of the Chaldeans. The king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's royal food, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at its end they should stand before the king. read more.
Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. But Daniel determined in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's royal food, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. The prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? So would you endanger my head with the king." Then said Daniel to the steward whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: "Test your servants for ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink. Then let our faces be looked on before you, and the face of the youths who eat of the king's royal food; and as you see, deal with your servants." So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them ten days. At the end of ten days their faces appeared better and fatter than all the youths who ate of the king's royal food. So the steward took away their royal food, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them vegetables. Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore they entered the king's service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm.

Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul. Therefore also he sent for him more often, and talked with him.

The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and tell them, "We are your servants. Now make a covenant with us."'

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city, while they searched for food to refresh their souls.

Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says the LORD.

Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

I spoke to you at that time, saying, "I am not able to bear you myself alone: The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude. The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you. read more.
How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you." You answered me, and said, "The thing which you have spoken is good to do." So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. I commanded your judges at that time, saying, "Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it."