TOPICAL BIBLE
Government
826 references in this topic.
Acts 4:21After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened.Acts 5:17Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They went outActs 5:18and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.Acts 5:21At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.Acts 5:22But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they returned with the report:Acts 5:23“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards posted at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”Acts 5:24When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening.Acts 5:25Then someone came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!”Acts 5:26At that point, the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles—but not by force, for fear the people would stone them.Acts 5:27They brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, where the high priest interrogated them.Acts 5:28“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”Acts 5:29But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.Acts 5:30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.Acts 5:31God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.Acts 5:32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”Acts 5:33When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.Acts 5:34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.Acts 5:35“Men of Israel,” he said, “consider carefully what you are about to do to these men.Acts 5:36Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.Acts 5:37After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.Acts 5:38So in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone. Let them go! For if their purpose or endeavor is of human origin, it will fail.Acts 5:39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”Acts 5:40At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.Acts 5:41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.Acts 6:9But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They disputed with Stephen,Acts 6:10but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.Acts 6:11Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”Acts 6:12So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,Acts 6:13where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.Acts 6:14For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”Acts 6:15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.Acts 7:1Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”Acts 7:2And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,Acts 7:3and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’Acts 7:4So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.Acts 7:5He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.Acts 7:6God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.Acts 7:7‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’Acts 7:8Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.Acts 7:9Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with himActs 7:10and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.Acts 7:11Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.Acts 7:12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.Acts 7:13On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.Acts 7:14Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.Acts 7:15So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.Acts 7:16Their bones were carried back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a price he paid in silver.Acts 7:17As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number.Acts 7:18Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.Acts 7:19He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.Acts 7:20At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in the sight of God. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house.Acts 7:21When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.Acts 7:22So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.Acts 7:23When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.Acts 7:24And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him.Acts 7:25He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not.Acts 7:26The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’Acts 7:27But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?Acts 7:28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’Acts 7:29At this remark, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner and had two sons.