Bible verses for leaders

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Traditionally attributed to Solomon. The proverb assumes a leader has plans and does not tell him to abandon them; it tells him who to show them to before they are final.

For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.

Traditionally attributed to Solomon. The failure is not a lack of talent but a lack of guidance, and the remedy is plural: many counselors, not one trusted voice.

Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve a king; by these he maintains his throne.

Traditionally attributed to Solomon, written for kings and true of anyone in charge. What keeps a leader in place is not force but loving devotion and faithfulness, the qualities people can rely on.

So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

Asaph, closing a long psalm of Israel's history with David the shepherd king. Integrity of heart and skill of hand, in that order, and both are named as the way he led.

When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Traditionally attributed to Solomon. A plain test for any leader: listen to the people, and notice whether they are rejoicing or groaning.

Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Paul to Timothy, a young pastor in a hard city. Authority for a leader without seniority comes from example, and Paul names five places it has to show.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Jesus, after James and John asked for the best seats. The Son of Man came to serve, and the sentence is the foundation for every other verse on this page.

And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.

Paul near the end of his life, to the one he was leaving in charge. Leadership that lasts is measured by who you have trained to lead after you.

But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

Jesus at the last supper, after the disciples argued about who was greatest. The one who leads is to be like the one who serves, said hours before He was arrested.

Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

The words of King Lemuel's mother, the only proverbs credited to a woman. Before the famous wife of noble character, she tells her son what a ruler's mouth is for.

Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?

Solomon's prayer at the start of his reign, when God offered him anything. He asked for a heart that could tell good from evil, and the request itself was the first sign he had one.

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.

Jesus on the night before His death, having just done a servant's job for twelve men. The example is meant to be copied, and He says so in plain words.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul from prison, just before the great passage about Christ emptying Himself. Selfish ambition is named as the thing to avoid, which is a caution most leaders need to hear early.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

Peter to the elders of scattered churches, calling himself a fellow elder. Three pairs of not this but that, and the last one, not lording it over but being examples, is the heart of it.