Luke 18:2

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.

If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

Take wise men of understanding who are respected among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”

I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him who I didn’t know.

Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways.

But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’

Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate.

Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.

Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,

For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,

“I will hear you fully when your accusers also arrive.” He commanded that he be kept in Herod’s palace.

However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.

Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.

His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.

The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”

David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly;

It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth.

I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

In rebellion, a land has many rulers, but order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.

A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter.

A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called “The Holy Way”. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools shall not go there.

Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.

“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”

But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’

He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.

Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”

They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people.

I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing.

When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,

“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you.”

He asked them to provide animals, that they might set Paul on one, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.

When the governor had beckoned to him to speak, Paul answered, “Because I know that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I cheerfully make my defense,

But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.”

Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

who, when they had examined me, desired to set me free, because there was no cause of death in me.

without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.

But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.

laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear,

The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man.