Submit to Government

13 Let every soul be ^(A)subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Graces of the Heirs of Grace

3 Remind them ^(A)to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, ^(B)to be ready for every good work,

Submission to Government^(A)

^13 (B)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[a]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (C)as free, yet not ^(D)using liberty as a cloak for ^[b]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(E)God. Honor the king.

¹¹ Jesus answered, ^(A)“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^(B)the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

^5 (A)‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and ^(B)have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. ^6 (C)And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(D)My servant; and ^(E)the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. ^7 (F)So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, ^(G)until the time of his land comes; ^(H)and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. ⁸ And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

¹⁸ O king, ^(A)the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your ^[a]father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. ¹⁹ And because of the majesty that He gave him, ^(B)all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he ^(C)executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. ^20 (D)But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ Then he was ^(E)driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, ^(F)till he ^[b]knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.

²² “But you his son, Belshazzar, ^(G)have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ^23 (H)And you have ^[c]lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the ^(I)vessels of ^[d]His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, ^(J)which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand ^(K)and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.

^8 (A)Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and ^(B)speak evil of ^[a]dignitaries.