59 Bible Verses about Leaders, Political

But Jehovah raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who spoiled them.

And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time.

And it happened when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. And the name of his first-born was Joel, and the name of his second was Abiah, judges in Beer-sheba. And his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after ill gain and took bribes and perverted judgment.read more.
And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves 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 was evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah. And Jehovah said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even until this day, works with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they do also to you. And now listen to their voice. Only, you shall surely protest solemnly to them, and show them the kind of king who shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the Words of Jehovah to the people who asked a king of him. And he said, This will be the privilege of the king who shall reign over you. He shall take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and his horsemen. And they shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint commanders over thousands, and commanders over fifties, and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and weapons for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards, the best, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants. And he will take your male slaves and your slave girls, and your finest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants. And you shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but we will have a king over us. And we shall be, also we, like all the nations, so that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah.

And Samuel took a vial of oil and poured on his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because Jehovah has anointed you for a leader over His inheritance?

And Jehovah said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse of Bethlehem. For I have seen a king for Me among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me. And Jehovah said, Take a heifer of the herd in your hand with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to Jehovah. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for Me whomever I name to you.read more.
And Samuel did what Jehovah said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to Jehovah. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it happened as they came in, he saw Eliab and said, Surely Jehovah's anointed is before Jehovah. But Jehovah said to Samuel, Do not look on his face, nor on his height, because I have refused him. For He does not see as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart. And Jesse called Abinadab, and he passed him before Samuel, but he said, Also Jehovah has not chosen this one. And Jesse passed Shammah by, but he said, Also Jehovah has not chosen this one. And Jesse passed seven of his sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, Jehovah has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here. And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and good form. And Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him. For this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of Jehovah came on David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

And when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall come out of your bowels. And I will make his kingdom sure.

And David answered and said, Call Bathsheba. And she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. And the king swore, and said, As Jehovah lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all distress, surely as I swore to you by Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place, even so I will do today.read more.
And Bathsheba bowed her face to the earth, even kneeling to the king, and said, Let my lord King David live forever. And King David said, Call Zadok the priest to me, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. The king also said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel there. And blow with the ram's horn, and say, Let King Solomon live. And you shall come up after him, and let him come and sit upon my throne. For he shall reign in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen. May Jehovah, the God of my lord the king say so. As Jehovah has been with my lord the king, even so may He be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. And Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and caused Solomon to ride upon King David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the Tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the ram's horn, and all the people said, Let King Solomon live! And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth was torn with their sound.

And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which Jehovah commanded him.

If one is found dead in the land which Jehovah your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who has killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come forth. And they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is dead.

And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. And he said, Such a one! Turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Come sit down here. And they sat down.

when I went out to the gate by the city; when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up. The rulers held back from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.read more.
The noble's voice was subdued, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth. For the ear heard and blessed me. And the eye saw me and witnessed to me. For I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

And in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the Trachonitus country, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene--

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Cut out two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write upon the tablets the words that were in the first tablets which you broke.

He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made; for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it. And he called it Nehushtan.

And when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the Asherahs, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, even to the end. And all the sons of Israel returned, each to his possession, into their own cities.

And these are the men whom David set over the service of song in the house of Jehovah, after the ark had rest.

And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten pieces for yourself. For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you,

And now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.

And Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?

And Jehovah said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse of Bethlehem. For I have seen a king for Me among his sons.

But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah. And Jehovah said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even until this day, works with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they do also to you.

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.

For He shall deliver the needy when he cries; and the poor with no helper. He shall have pity on the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence; and their blood shall be precious in His sight.

He will judge Your people in righteousness, and Your poor with judgment.

A king who sits in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

The king establishes the land by judgment; but he taking bribes tears it down.

There is no end of the increase of His government and peace on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on, even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this.

And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with uprightness for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. And he fed them according to the pureness of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you kill the fat ones, but you do not feed the flock. You have not made the weak strong, nor have you healed the sick, nor have you bound up the broken. You have not brought again those driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost; but you have ruled them with force and with cruelty.read more.
And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd. And they became food to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yea, My flock was scattered on all the face of the earth, and none searched nor sought for them.

And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.

And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write a copy of this Law in a book from before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this Law, and these statutes, to do them, so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may make his days longer in his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His heart.

By me kings reign and princes decree justice. Princes rule by me, and nobles, all the judges of the earth.

But Jesus called them and said, You know that the rulers of the nations exercise dominion over them, and they who are great exercise authority over them.

But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, so as to multiply horses, because Jehovah has said to you, You shall return no more that way from now on. Nor shall he multiply wives to himself, so that his heart does not turn away. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold to himself.

And he said, This will be the privilege of the king who shall reign over you. He shall take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and his horsemen. And they shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint commanders over thousands, and commanders over fifties, and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and weapons for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.read more.
And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards, the best, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants. And he will take your male slaves and your slave girls, and your finest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants.

Your father made our yoke hard. And now lighten the hard service of your father, and the heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms without justice; his neighbor serves without pay, and he does not give him for his work;

And he waited seven days, according to the set time with Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring a burnt offering here to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And it happened as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and to kneel to him.read more.
And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and you did not come in the days appointed, and the Philistines gathered themselves at Michmash, and I said, The Philistines will come down now on me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to Jehovah. And I forced myself and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Jehovah your God, which He commanded you. For now Jehovah would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to ruin. For he sinned against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense on the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Jehovah, mighty men. And they withstood Uzziah the king and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the temple, for you have sinned. Nor shall it be for your honor from Jehovah God.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill which is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And likewise he did for all his foreign wives, and burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did the evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the heathen whom Jehovah cast out before the sons of Israel. For he built up again the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. And he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did. And he worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.read more.
And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah said, In Jerusalem I will put My name. And he built altars for all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times and used fortune-tellers. And he dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He worked much wickedness in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and lean on horses and trust in chariots, because it is great; and in horsemen, because they are so very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor do they seek Jehovah!

At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who make advice, but not of Me; and who cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they add sin to sin; those who set out to go down to Egypt and have not asked at My mouth; to take refuge in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt; they go to Assyria.

And He said to them, You go and tell that fox, Behold, today and tomorrow, I cast out demons and I complete cures, and the third day I will be finished.

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed. Then he wrote the dream and gave the sum of the matters. Daniel spoke and said, In my vision by night I was looking: and behold, the four winds of the heavens were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another.read more.
The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man. And a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like a bear. And it raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said this to it: Arise, eat up much flesh. After this I saw, and lo, another, like a leopard, which had four wings of a bird on its back. The beast also had four heads; and rulership was given to it. After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and very strong. And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns.

And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And on its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads was the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and its feet like those of a bear, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him its power and its seat and great authority. And I saw one of its heads as having been slain to death, and its deadly wound was healed. And all the earth marveled after the beast.

Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority but of God; the authorities that exist are ordained by God.

Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

Then be in obedience to every ordinance of men, because of the Lord, whether to a king as supreme, or to governors as sent by Him for vengeance on evildoers, but for praise on well-doers. For such is the will of God, doing good to silence the ignorance of foolish men;read more.
as free, and not having freedom as a cover of evil, but as servants of God. Honor all. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

And Peter and the apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

Then they answered and said before the king, Daniel, who is of the exiled sons of Judah, has not respected you, O king, nor the ban that you have signed, but makes his prayer three times a day.

First of all, then, I exhort that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.