Romans 13:4

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Romans 13:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval.

4 For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work.

Greek words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Romans 13:6

This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work.

1 Kings 10:9

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

2 Chronicles 19:6

Then he said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do, for you are not judging for man, but for the LORD, who is with you when you render judgment.

Psalms 82:2

“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Psalms 82:3

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

Psalms 82:4

Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.

Proverbs 24:23

These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

Proverbs 24:24

Whoever tells the guilty, “You are innocent”— peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him;

Proverbs 31:8

Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

Proverbs 31:9

Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

Ecclesiastes 8:2

Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.

Ecclesiastes 8:3

Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

Ecclesiastes 8:4

For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

Ecclesiastes 8:5

Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

Isaiah 1:17

Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

Jeremiah 5:28

They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

Ezekiel 22:27

Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

Micah 3:1

Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?

Micah 3:2

You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.

Micah 3:3

You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”

Micah 3:4

Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

Micah 3:9

Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,

Proverbs 16:14

The wrath of a king is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

Proverbs 20:2

The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.

Proverbs 20:8

A king who sits on a throne to judge sifts out all evil with his eyes.

Proverbs 20:26

A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

Romans 12:19

Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

Numbers 35:19

The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.

Numbers 35:20

Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him,

Numbers 35:21

or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

Numbers 35:22

But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,

Numbers 35:23

or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him,

Numbers 35:24

then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

Numbers 35:25

The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

Numbers 35:26

But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled

Numbers 35:27

and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed

Joshua 20:5

Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice.

Joshua 20:9

These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.

Ezekiel 25:14

I will take My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then they will know My vengeance, declares the Lord GOD.’