100 Bible Verses about Abuse Of Power

Ezekiel 34:4 ESV / 24 helpful votes

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

2 Corinthians 11:13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Matthew 23:13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Matthew 23:3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

James 5:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Psalm 146:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

3 John 1:9-10 ESV / 6 helpful votes

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

1 Peter 3:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

James 1:19-20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Colossians 3:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Luke 10:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Matthew 23:6-7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

Matthew 23:1-2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,

Matthew 16:6 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.

2 Samuel 11:27 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

James 5:19-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James 4:1-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ...

James 3:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

Galatians 6:12-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

1 Corinthians 4:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

Romans 15:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Matthew 18:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

1 John 3:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:2-3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

James 1:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Colossians 1:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Ephesians 6:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Ephesians 4:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 11:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?

1 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

1 Corinthians 2:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Romans 13:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 12:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Acts 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

John 13:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 3:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 22:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

Matthew 23:1-3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

Matthew 22:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Ezekiel 34:1-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; ...

Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 10:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Psalm 147:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 51:1-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. ...

Psalm 11:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

2 Chronicles 6:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind,

2 Samuel 5:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”

Revelation 11:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

2 Peter 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

2 Peter 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1 Peter 3:1-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ...

James 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Hebrews 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Hebrews 12:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Hebrews 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Titus 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Titus 2:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

2 Thessalonians 3:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

Colossians 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Ephesians 6:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

Ephesians 5:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Ephesians 5:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Ephesians 1:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Galatians 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

2 Corinthians 11:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 1:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Acts 2:42 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Luke 24:49 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

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