59 Bible Verses about Leaders, Political
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The LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba. His sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.read more.
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. 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.
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.
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." Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." The LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you."read more.
And Samuel did what the LORD said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling. And they said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab, and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before him." 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." Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your children here?" He said, "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for he is the one." 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.
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.
Then king David answered, "Summon Bathsheba to me." So she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. And the king vowed, saying, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, most certainly as I vowed to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;' so I certainly will do this day."read more.
Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, paying homage to the king, and said, "Let my lord king David live forever." And King David said, "Summon to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada." They came before the king. The king said to them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, 'Long live king Solomon.' Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah." Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, "Amen. May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so. As the LORD 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." So 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 on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, "Long live king Solomon." All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.
Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him; then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain:
Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, "Come over here, friend, and sit down." He turned aside, and sat down. He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, "Sit down here." They sat down.
when I went forth to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.read more.
The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,
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,
The LORD said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on 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 that Moses had made; for in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
These are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest.
He said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you
Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
The LORD looked at him, and said, "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven't I sent you?"
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."
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. 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.
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 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.
A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.
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.
His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You haven't strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them.read more.
They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought."'
A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
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.
His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.
But Jesus summoned them, and said, "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
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." Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
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.read more.
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.
"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."
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire;
He stayed seven days, according to the time set by Samuel: but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. Saul said, "Bring here the burnt offering to me, and the peace offerings." He offered the burnt offering. It came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.read more.
Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash; therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of the LORD.' I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering." Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you; for now the LORD would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against the LORD his God; for he went into the LORD's temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, who were valiant men: and they resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, "It isn't for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God."
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. So he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt 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. He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.read more.
He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem." He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery, and practiced divination, and consulted mediums, and spiritists: he worked much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and they do not seek the LORD.
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 children," says the LORD, "who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
"Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.
And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Look, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions in his mind on his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the summary of it. Daniel spoke and said, "I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke forth on the great sea. Four great animals came up from the sea, different from one another.read more.
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I saw until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man; and a man's mind was given to it. And behold, another animal, a second one, like a bear; and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. And they said this to it, 'Arise, devour much flesh.' After this I saw, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The animal also had four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and extremely strong. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped what was left with its feet. And it was diverse from all the animals that were before it; and it had ten horns.
I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names. The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. One of his heads looked like it had been wounded fatally. His fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.
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 you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
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.
But if not, be it 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, "That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn't regard you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day."
I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, be made for all men: for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence.
Bible Theasaurus
- Political (3 instances)
