What Does the Bible Say About Sovereignty?

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

Psalm 115:3 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 103:19 ESV / 20 helpful votes

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Job 42:2 ESV / 19 helpful votes

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Ephesians 1:11-12 ESV / 17 helpful votes

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV / 17 helpful votes

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Ephesians 1:11 ESV / 16 helpful votes

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Lamentations 3:37 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Romans 9:21 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

Romans 9:19-20 ESV / 12 helpful votes

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Romans 9:18 ESV / 12 helpful votes

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 8:28 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Isaiah 14:27 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Ephesians 1:4 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Proverbs 21:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

1 Samuel 2:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Isaiah 45:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Proverbs 16:4 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

John 6:44 ESV / 7 helpful votes

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Daniel 4:35 ESV / 7 helpful votes

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Lamentations 3:38 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

Proverbs 21:30 ESV / 7 helpful votes

No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.

Ezra 6:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

2 Chronicles 20:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.

1 Timothy 6:15 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

Jeremiah 14:22 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.

Isaiah 43:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”

Isaiah 40:23-24 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

Job 23:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.

Genesis 50:19-21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Job 12:13-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Job 12:13-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.

Exodus 3:21-22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Genesis 50:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 1:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Revelation 13:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Romans 15:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Acts 2:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

John 5:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 22:31-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Matthew 10:1-42 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, ...

Isaiah 10:5-19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; for he says: “Are not my commanders all kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ...

Job 12:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.

Genesis 15:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Hebrews 2:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Romans 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:19-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Mark 1:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Job 2:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

1 Samuel 2:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Leviticus 11:44 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Psalm 104:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

63 Bible Verses about Sovereignty