Bible Verses About Rulers

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, men whose power goes to mixing strong drinks,

who acquit the guilty for bribes but deny justice to the righteous!

Woe to those who enact unjust decrees and draft oppressive legislation

to deprive the impoverished of justice and rob my people's poor of their rights, looting widows and preying on orphans!

What will you do on the day of punishment, when calamity comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth,

you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Bavel: "At last the oppressor is stilled, his arrogance is ended!

ADONAI has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,

which furiously struck down peoples with unceasing blows, angrily beating down nations with relentless persecution.

The whole earth is at rest and quiet. They break into song.

The cypresses rejoice over you, with the cedars of the L'vanon - 'Now that you are laid low, no one comes to cut us down.'

"Sh'ol below is stirred up to meet you when you come. It awakens for you the ghosts of the dead who were leaders on earth; it makes all the kings of the nations arise from their thrones.

They all greet you with these words: 'Now you are as weak as we are, you have become like us!

Your pride has been brought down to Sh'ol with the music of your lyres, under you a mattress of maggots, over you a blanket of worms.'

"How did you come to fall from the heavens, morning star, son of the dawn? How did you come to be cut to the ground, conqueror of nations?

You thought to yourself, 'I will scale the heavens, I will raise my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north.

I will rise past the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'

"Instead you are brought down to Sh'ol, to the uttermost depths of the pit.

Those who see you will stare at you, reflecting on what has become of you: 'Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble,

who made the world a desert, who destroyed its cities, who would not set his prisoners free?'

"All other kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each in his tomb.

But you are discarded, unburied, like a loathed branch, clothed like the slain who were pierced by the sword, then fall to the stones inside a pit, like a corpse to be trampled underfoot.

You will not be joined with those kings in the grave, because you destroyed your own land, you have brought death to your own people. The descendants of evildoers will be utterly forgotten.

a throne will be set up by grace, and on it, in the tent of David, will sit an honest judge, seeking justice and pursuing righteousness.

He will also be a spirit of justice for whoever sits as a judge, and a source of strength for those repelling enemy attacks at the gate.

So listen to the word of ADONAI, you scoffers, composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim: