29 Bible Verses about Public Opinion

You are not to follow the majority in doing wrong, and you are not to testify in a lawsuit so as to follow the majority and pervert justice.

"Have I covered my transgression like other people, to conceal iniquity within myself? Have I feared large crowds? Has my family's contempt ever terrified me so that I remained silent and wouldn't go outside?"

Then the army told Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who brought about this great deliverance in Israel? As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground, because today he did this with God's help."

"I've sinned," Saul replied to Samuel. "I've broken the LORD's command and your word, because I was afraid of the people and listened to them.

At every festival the governor had a custom of releasing to the crowd any prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which man do you want me to release for you Barabbas, or Jesus who is called "the Messiah'?" read more.
He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy. While he was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message that said, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, because today I have suffered terribly due to a dream I had about him." But the high priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to demand that Jesus be put to death. So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!" Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "These people keep saying, "No, the right time for rebuilding the LORD's Temple has not yet come."'" Then this message from the LORD came by Haggai the prophet: "Is it the right time for all of you to live in your own paneled houses while this house remains in ruins?"read more.
"Now this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, says: "Carefully consider your ways: You have sowed much but have reaped little. You have eaten but don't have enough to become satisfied. You have drunk but don't have enough to become intoxicated. You have clothed yourself but don't have enough to keep warm. And the hired laborer deposits his salary in a bag full of holes!'" "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Carefully consider your ways: Go up into the mountains, bring timber, and reconstruct my house. Then I will be pleased with it and I will be honored,' says the LORD. "You turned away in pursuit of abundance, but look at how little you found! What you did manage to bring home, I blew away! And why?' declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "It's because of my house! It lies in ruins while each of you runs off to his own house! That is why the heavens keep withholding dew from you, and the earth withholds her fruit. I sent a drought on the land, on the mountains, on your grain, on your new wines, on your oil on everything the ground produces on men, on livestock, and on everything you do!'"

"Then we set out from Horeb and walked through that vast and dreadful desert, where you observed the road to the Amorite hill country. Just as the LORD our God ordained for us, we finally arrived at Kadesh-barnea. I told you at that time, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is about to give us. Look! The LORD your God has given the land that lies before you. Go and possess it, just as the LORD God of your ancestors commanded you. Don't be afraid or discouraged.'read more.
"Then all of you approached me and said: "Let's send out men in advance of us so they can survey the land and bring back a report to us on how we'll go up to their cities.' Because this suggestion seemed good to me, I chose twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. Then these men set out, went up to the hill county, reached the Eshcol Valley, and surveyed it. They hand-picked some of the fruit of the land, brought it down to us, and gave a report that said, "The land which the LORD is about to give us is good.'" "However, your ancestors didn't go up. Instead, they rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You murmured in your tents, "The LORD hates us. He brought us out of the land of Egypt in order to deliver us to the Amorites so he could destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers discouraged us when they said that the people are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are tall and fortified to the sky, and we also saw the Anakim there.' "Then I told you, "Don't be terrified or afraid of them. The LORD your God is the One who will be going ahead of you. He'll fight for you just as he did in Egypt before your eyes. In the desert you saw that the LORD carried you like a man carries his son, on every road you traveled until you reached this place.' But despite this, you didn't trust in the LORD your God, who walked ahead of you along the way to scout a place for you to pitch camp by fire at night and cloud by day to lead you on the way you should go." "When the LORD heard your complaints, he became angry and declared, "I swear that not one man of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors, except Jephunneh's son Caleb. He will see it and I will give to him and to his descendants the land on which he has walked because he wholeheartedly followed the LORD.' "The LORD was also furious with me because of you. He said: "You will not enter the land. However, Nun's son Joshua, your assistant, will go there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to take possession of it. Your little ones whom you said would be taken captive and your children who do not yet know right from wrong will enter the land. I will give it to them and they themselves will possess it. But as for you, prepare to set out for the desert on the way to the Reed Sea.'

All the elders of Israel gathered together, and came to Samuel at Ramah. They told him, "Look, you're old, and your sons don't follow your example. So appoint a king to govern us like all the other nations." Samuel was displeased when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD.read more.
The LORD told Samuel, "Listen to the people in all that they say to you. In fact, it's not you they have rejected, but rather they have rejected me from being their king. Like all the things they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day, they have forsaken me and followed other gods. They're also doing the same thing to you. Now, listen to them, but you are to clearly warn them and inform them about how the king who rules over them will operate."

where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word.

"You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, "We're free to roam? We won't come to you anymore.' Will a young woman forget her wedding ornaments, or a bride her attire? But my people have forgotten me days without number. How well you perfect your techniques for seeking love. Therefore you can teach even the most immoral women your techniques.read more.
On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, even though you didn't catch them breaking in. Yet despite all these things, you say, "I'm innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.'" "I'm about to bring charges against you because you say, "I haven't sinned.'

The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened as Jeremiah spoke these words at the LORD's Temple. As soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, telling him as they did: "You must certainly die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be without an inhabitant?" Then all the people gathered around Jeremiah at the LORD's Temple.read more.
When the Judean officials heard all these things, they came up from the king's house to the LORD's Temple and sat in the doorway of the New Gate of the LORD's Temple. The priests and prophets told the officials and all the people, "A death sentence for this man, because he prophesied against this city, as you heard with your own ears!" Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people: "The LORD has sent me to prophesy all the things you heard against this house and against this city. Now, change your habits and your deeds and obey the LORD your God, and the LORD will change his mind about the disaster that he told you about. Look, I'm in your hands, so do with me what you think is good and right. But know for certain that if you kill me, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and its residents because the LORD really did send me to you to say all these things for you to hear." The officials and all the people told the priests and the prophets, "No death sentence for this man because he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

"The LORD heard what you said. He told me: "I've heard what this people said. Everything they said was good. If only they would commit to fear me and keep all my commands, then it will go well with them and their children forever.

So Joshua told the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins. If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign deities, then he will turn and do you harm, consuming you after all the good he has done for you." "No," the people replied to Joshua. "We will serve the LORD."read more.
Joshua responded, "You are giving testimony against yourselves, that you have chosen to serve the LORD." They replied, "We are witnesses!" Joshua said, "Therefore abandon the foreign gods that are among you, and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." The people replied, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice."

When Jesus had come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They said, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say I am?"read more.
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!" Then Jesus told him, "How blessed you are, Simon son of Jonah, since flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, though my Father in heaven has.

Then Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he was asking his disciples, "Who do people say I am?" They answered him, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets." Then he began to ask them, "But who do you say I am?"

One day, while Jesus was praying privately and the disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" They answered, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the ancient prophets who has come back to life." He asked them, "But who do you say I am?" "God's Messiah," Peter replied.

When they heard these words, some in the crowd were saying, "This really is the Prophet," while others were saying, "This is the Messiah!" But some were saying, "The Messiah doesn't come from Galilee, does he? Doesn't the Scripture say that the Messiah is from David's family and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" read more.
So there was a division in the crowd because of him.

Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? Not at all, I tell you, but rather division!

And there was a great deal of discussion about him among the crowds. Some were saying, "He is a good man," while others were saying, "No, he is deceiving the crowds!"

Some of the Pharisees began to remark, "This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a sinful man perform such signs?" And there was a division among them.

Once again there was a division among the Jews because of what Jesus had been saying.

At that time Herod the tetrarch, hearing about the fame of Jesus, told his servants, "This is John the Baptist! He has been raised from the dead, and that's why these miracles are being done by him." Herod had arrested John, bound him with chains, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.read more.
John had been telling him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." Although Herod wanted to kill him, he was afraid of the crowd, since they regarded John as a prophet.

So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.

So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!"read more.
Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

About that time, Herod arrested some people who belonged to the church and mistreated them. He even had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword. When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Although Herod wanted to kill him, he was afraid of the crowd, since they regarded John as a prophet.

Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

So there was a division in the crowd because of him.