27 Bible Verses about Magistrates

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to take wine, or for rulers to say, Where is strong drink?

You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.

But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

These are more sayings of the wise: To have respect for a person's position when judging is not good.

And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man of the Lord's selection, how there is no other like him among all the people? And all the people with loud cries said, Long life to the king!

So the king came back, and came as far as Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, meeting the king there, to take him back with them over Jordan.

And on the eighth day he sent the people away, and, blessing the king, they went to their tents full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David his servant and to Israel his people.

They made answer and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O King, have life for ever.

And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.

You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.

If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer.

So now let the fear of the Lord be in you; do your work with care; for in the Lord our God there is no evil, or respect for high position, or taking of payment to do wrong.

The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God,

Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.

You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.

In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.

Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause.

So when Pilate saw that he was able to do nothing, but that trouble was working up, he took water and, washing his hands before the people, said, The blood of this upright man is not on my hands: you are responsible.

Then he let Barabbas go free: but after having Jesus whipped, he gave him up to be put to death on the cross.

For he is the servant of God to you for good. But if you do evil, have fear; for the sword is not in his hand for nothing: he is God's servant, making God's punishment come on the evil-doer.

And those of the rulers who are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of those who do well.

For he is the servant of God to you for good. But if you do evil, have fear; for the sword is not in his hand for nothing: he is God's servant, making God's punishment come on the evil-doer.

For the same reason, make payment of taxes; because the authority is God's servant, to take care of such things at all times.

But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

And you, Ezra, by the wisdom of your God which is in you, are to put rulers and judges to have authority over all the people across the river who have knowledge of the laws of your God; and you are to give teaching to him who has no knowledge of them.

For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter.

I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.

And said to the judges, Take care what you do, for you are judging not for man but for the Lord, and he is with you in the decisions you give.

Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man.

Then two loose women of the town came and took their places before the king; And one of them said, O my lord, I and this woman are living in the same house; and I gave birth to a child by her side in the house. And three days after the birth of my child, this woman had a child: we were together, no other-person was with us in the house but we two only. read more.
In the night, this woman, sleeping on her child, was the cause of its death. And she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was sleeping; and she took it in her arms and put her dead child in my arms. And when I got up to give my child the breast, I saw that it was dead; but in the morning, looking at it with care, I saw that it was not my son. And the other woman said, No; but the living child is my son and the dead one yours. But the first said, No; the dead child is your son and the living one mine. So they kept on talking before the king. Then the king said, One says, The living child is my son, and yours is the dead: and the other says, Not so; but your son is the dead one and mine is the living. Then he said, Get me a sword. So they went and put a sword before the king. And the king said, Let the living child be cut in two and one half given to one woman and one to the other. Then the mother of the living child came forward, for her heart went out to her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the child; do not on any account put it to death. But the other woman said, It will not be mine or yours; let it be cut in two. Then the king made answer and said, Give her the child, and do not put it to death; she is the mother of it. And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.

My desire is, first of all, that you will make requests and prayers and give praise for all men; For kings and all those in authority; so that we may have a calm and quiet life in all fear of God and serious behaviour.

The scribes and the Pharisees have the authority of Moses; All things, then, which they give you orders to do, these do and keep: but do not take their works as your example, for they say and do not.

Like a loud-voiced lion and a wandering bear, is an evil ruler over a poor people.

And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped. And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely:

And he sent them away from the judge's seat. And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things.

And Shallun, the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the division of Mizpah, made good the doorway of the fountain, building it up and covering it and putting up its doors, with their locks and rods, with the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, as far as the steps which go down from the town of David.

Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

And his sons did not go in his ways, but moved by the love of money took rewards, and were not upright in judging.

But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.

He who has the power of comforting, let him do so; he who gives, let him give freely; he who has the power of ruling, let him do it with a serious mind; he who has mercy on others, let it be with joy.

Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people?

For rulers are not a cause of fear to the good work but to the evil. If you would have no fear of the authority, do good and you will have praise;

Let everyone put himself under the authority of the higher powers, because there is no power which is not of God, and all powers are ordered by God.

For he was hoping that Paul would give him money: so he sent for him more frequently and had talk with him.

Then this Daniel did his work better than the chief rulers and the captains, because there was a special spirit in him; and it was the king's purpose to put him over all the kingdom.

Then the chief rulers and the captains were looking for some cause for putting Daniel in the wrong in connection with the kingdom, but they were unable to put forward any wrongdoing or error against him; because he was true, and no error or wrong was to be seen in him.

I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.

And you, Ezra, by the wisdom of your God which is in you, are to put rulers and judges to have authority over all the people across the river who have knowledge of the laws of your God; and you are to give teaching to him who has no knowledge of them.

And if anyone does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, take care that punishment is given to him, by death or by driving him from his country or by taking away his goods or by putting him in prison.

And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.