Bible Verses About Rulers: Wicked

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.

He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to his own chariots and horses, to run in front of his chariots.

He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, to make his weapons of war, and to equip his chariots.

And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.

He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.

He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants.

And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use.

He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”

For the LORD humbled Judah because Ahaz king of Israel had thrown off restraint in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the LORD.

and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them

and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.

So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?

Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.

For even while they were in their kingdom, with the abundant goodness that You had given them, and in the spacious and fertile land that You had set before them, they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.

So here we are today as slaves in the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness— here we are as slaves!

Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.

Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,