'Leaders' in the Bible

As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.

These are Ishmael’s sons, and these are their names by their villages and encampments: 12 leaders of their clans.

Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified;trembling will seize the leaders of Moab;the inhabitants of Canaan will panic;

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them.

The leaders brought onyx and gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece,

These are the men called from the community; they are leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of Israel’s clans.”

These are the men Moses and Aaron registered, with the assistance of the 12 leaders of Israel; each represented his ancestral house.

The chief of the Levite leaders was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest; he had oversight of those responsible for the duties of the sanctuary.

So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community registered the Kohathites by their clans and their ancestral houses,

Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel registered all the Levites by their clans and their ancestral houses,

the leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestral houses, presented an offering. They were the tribal leaders who supervised the registration.

They brought as their offering before the Lord six covered carts and 12 oxen, a cart from every two leaders and an ox from each one, and presented them in front of the tabernacle.

The leaders also presented the dedication gift for the altar when it was anointed. The leaders presented their offerings in front of the altar.

This was the dedication gift from the leaders of Israel for the altar when it was anointed: 12 silver dishes, 12 silver basins, and 12 gold bowls.

However, if one is sounded, only the leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans, are to gather before you.

Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.

250 prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses.

“Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their ancestral houses, 12 staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord so that His burning anger may turn away from Israel.”

They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the entire community at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes, “This is what the Lord has commanded:

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

“You, Eleazar the priest, and the family leaders of the community are to take a count of what was captured, man and beast.

So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community and said:

So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the family leaders of the Israelite tribes.

The family leaders from the clan of the descendants of Gilead—the son of Machir, son of Manasseh—who were from the clans of the sons of Joseph, approached and addressed Moses and the leaders who were over the Israelite families.

Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.

“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

“All of you are standing today before the Lord your God—your leaders, tribes, elders, officials, all the men of Israel,

I will make My arrows drunk with bloodwhile My sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and the captives,the heads of the enemy leaders.”

So He became King in Jeshurunwhen the leaders of the people gatheredwith the tribes of Israel.

He chose the best part for himself,because a ruler’s portion was assigned there for him.He came with the leaders of the people;he carried out the Lord’s justiceand His ordinances for Israel.

So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.

But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.

All the leaders answered them, “We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

They came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our male relatives.” So they gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, in keeping with the Lord’s instruction.

They sent 10 leaders with him—one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their families among the clans of Israel.

The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans,

When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them.

So Joshua summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and said to them, “I am old, getting on in years,

Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and summoned Israel’s elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.

When the leaders lead in Israel,when the people volunteer,praise the Lord.

My heart is with the leaders of Israel,with the volunteers of the people.Praise the Lord!

Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim;Benjamin came with your people after you.The leaders came down from Machir,and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

The Philistine leaders went to her and said, “Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.

When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: “Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth.” The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them.

Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said:Our god has handed overour enemy Samson to us.

The temple was full of men and women; all the leaders of the Philistines were there, and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.

The leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers.

Saul said, “All you leaders of the troops, come here. Let us investigate how this sin has occurred today.

As the Philistine leaders were passing in review with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were passing in review behind them with Achish.

So Achish summoned David and told him, “As the Lord lives, you are an honorable man. I think it is good to have you working with me in the camp, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until today. But the leaders don’t think you are reliable.

Now go back quietly and you won’t be doing anything the Philistine leaders think is wrong.”

Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties: one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the Benjaminites. Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin,

the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent men with condolences for you, do you really believe he’s showing respect for your father? Instead, hasn’t David sent his emissaries in order to scout out the city, spy on it, and demolish it?”

he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.

At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion.

Ahab asked, “By whom?”And the prophet said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘By the young men of the provincial leaders.’”Then he asked, “Who is to start the battle?”He said, “You.”

So Ahab counted the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he counted all the Israelite troops: 7,000.

The young men of the provincial leaders marched out first. Then Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men are marching out of Samaria.”

The young men of the provincial leaders and the army behind them marched out from the city,

these mentioned by name were leaders in their families. Their ancestral houses increased greatly.

Now 500 men from these sons of Simeon went with Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, as their leaders to Mount Seir.

All these were Asher’s sons. They were the heads of their ancestral houses, chosen men, warriors, and chiefs among the leaders. The number of men listed in their genealogies for military service was 26,000.

Then the Spirit took control of Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said:We are yours, David,we are with you, son of Jesse!Peace, peace to you,and peace to him who helps you,for your God helps you.So David received them and made them leaders of his troops.

David consulted with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands.

Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers and to have them raise their voices with joy accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.

the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent men with condolences for you, do you really believe he’s showing respect for your father? Instead, hasn’t David sent his emissaries in order to scout out, overthrow, and spy on the land?”

Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon:

Then he gathered all the leaders of Israel, the priests, and the Levites.

Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: 16 heads of ancestral houses were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral houses were from Ithamar’s.

for Dan, Azarel son of Jeroham.Those were the leaders of the tribes of Israel.

David assembled all the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the fighting men, and all the brave warriors.

Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of God’s house. Every willing man of any skill will be at your disposal for the work, and the leaders and all the people are at your every command.”

Then the leaders of the households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly.

Then the people rejoiced because of their leaders’ willingness to give, for they had given to the Lord with a whole heart. King David also rejoiced greatly.

All the leaders and the mighty men, and all of King David’s sons as well, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.

He strengthened their fortifications and put leaders in them with supplies of food, oil, and wine.

Then Shemaiah the prophet went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them: “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have abandoned Me; therefore, I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’”

So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “Yahweh is righteous.”

All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought the tax, and put it in the chest until it was full.

At the turn of the year, an Aramean army went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.

So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those coming from the war.

His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 bulls for the priests.

All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the Lord’s temple that He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

So the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone God had motivated—prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem.

After they arrived at the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders gave freewill offerings for the house of God in order to have it rebuilt on its original site.

But many of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this house, but many others shouted joyfully.

they approached Zerubbabel and the leaders of the families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel’s families answered them, “You may have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”

We also asked them for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

and who has shown favor to me before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by Yahweh my God, and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.