29 Bible Verses about Public Opinion

Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shall thou speak in a case to turn aside after a multitude to distort [justice],

if like Adam I have covered my transgressions by hiding my iniquity in my bosom because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door--

And the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has wrought with God this day. So the peop

And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of LORD, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

Now during a feast the governor had been accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, Whom do ye want I should release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?read more.
For he knew that they delivered him up because of envy. And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, There is nothing for thee and that righteous man. For I suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. Now the governor having answered, he said to them, Which of the two do ye want I would release to you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate says to them, What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Christ? They all say to him, He should be crucified. And the governor said, For what evil has he done? But they cried out even more, saying, He should be crucified. And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather an uproar was developing, after taking water, he washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man. See ye to it. And having answered, all the people said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them, and having scourged Jesus he delivered him so that he would be crucified.

And after seeing that it was pleasing the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also (and those were the days of unleavened bread),

Thus speaks LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for LORD's house to be built. Then the word of LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lays waste?read more.
Now therefore thus says LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm. And he who earns wages earns wages [to put] into a bag with holes. Thus says LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house. And I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Why? says LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lays waste while ye run each man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of th

And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as LORD our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said to you, Ye have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which LORD our God gives to us. Behold, LORD thy God has set the land before thee. Go up, take possession, as LORD, the God of thy fathers, has spoken to thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.read more.
And ye came near to me, all of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come. And the thing pleased me well. And I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which LORD our God gives to us. Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of LORD your God. And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because LORD hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. LORD your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where thou have seen how that LORD thy God bore thee, as a man bears his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came to this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe LORD your God, who went before you in the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in the cloud by day. And LORD heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give to him the land that he has trodden upon, and to his sons, because he has wholly followed LORD. Also LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before thee, he shall go in there. Encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little ones, who ye said would be a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah. And they said to him, Behold, thou are old, and thy sons do not walk in thy ways. Now make for 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. And Samuel prayed to LORD.read more.
And LORD said to Samuel, Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee, for they have not rejected thee, 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 thee. Now therefore hearken to their voice. However thou shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the manner of the king who shall reign over them.

And Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long do ye go limping between the two sides? If LORD be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

O generation, see ye the word of LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, We have broken loose. We will come no more to thee? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. How thou trim thy way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women thou have taught thy ways.read more.
Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. Thou did not find them breaking in. But it is because of all these things. Yet thou said, I am innocent. Surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou say, I have not sinned.

And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of LORD. And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shall surely die. Why have thou prophesied in the name of LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of LORD.read more.
And when the rulers of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of LORD, and they sat in the entry of the new gate of LORD's [house]. Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of LORD your God, and LORD will relent of the evil 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 ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants of it. For of a truth LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. Then the rulers 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 LORD our God.

And LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me. And LORD said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to thee. They have well said all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their sons forever!

And Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot serve LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgression nor your sins. If ye forsake LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good. And the people said to Joshua, No, but we will serve LORD.read more.
And Joshua said to the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen for you, LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore, [he said], put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to LORD, the God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, we will serve LORD our God, and we will hearken to his voice.

Now when Jesus came into the regions of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some, John the immerser, others, Elijah, but others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He says to them, But who say ye, I am?read more.
And Simon Peter having answered, said, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And having answered, Jesus said to him, Blessed are thou, Simon Bar-jonah, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father in the heavens.

And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he questioned his disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am? And they answered, saying, John the immerser, and others, Elijah, but others, one of the prophets. And he says to them, But who do ye say that I am? And having answered, Peter says to him, Thou are the Christ.

And it came to pass, as he was praying privately, the disciples were with him. And he questioned them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am? And having answered, they said, John the immerser, but others, Elijah, and others, that a certain prophet of the ancient men arose. And he said to them, But ye, who say ye that I am? And having answered, Peter said, The Christ of God.

Many from the multitude therefore, when they heard the saying, said, This is truly the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. Others said, For does the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?read more.
So there became a division among the multitude because of him.

Do ye suppose that I came to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

And there was much murmuring among the multitudes about him. Some said, He is a good man, others said, No, but he leads the multitude astray.

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath. Other men said, How is a sinful man able to do such signs? And there was division among them.

Therefore again there became a division among the Jews because of these words.

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report of Jesus, and he said to his boys, This is John the immerser. He has risen from the dead, and because of this the powers work in him. For Herod having arrested John, bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.read more.
For John said to him, It is not permitted for thee to have her. And though he wanted to kill him, he feared the multitude because they held him as a prophet.

Then after departing, the captain with the subordinates brought them, not with violence, for they feared the people, lest they would be stoned.

Now the governor having answered, he said to them, Which of the two do ye want I would release to you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate says to them, What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Christ? They all say to him, He should be crucified. And the governor said, For what evil has he done? But they cried out even more, saying, He should be crucified.read more.
And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather an uproar was developing, after taking water, he washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man. See ye to it. And having answered, all the people said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them, and having scourged Jesus he delivered him so that he would be crucified.

Now about that time Herod the king threw on hands to harm some of those from the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And after seeing that it was pleasing the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also (and those were the days of unleavened bread),

And though he wanted to kill him, he feared the multitude because they held him as a prophet.

Yet no man spoke openly about him because of fear of the Jews.

So there became a division among the multitude because of him.