I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, ¹  the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf. ² 

Prepare the nations to do battle against her. ¹  Prepare the kings of the Medes. Prepare their governors and all their leaders. ²  Prepare all the countries they rule to do battle against her. ³ 

“I will make her officials and wise men drunk, along with her governors, leaders, ¹  and warriors. They will fall asleep forever and never wake up,” ²  says the King whose name is the Lord who rules over all. ³ 

ו (Vav) All of Daughter Zion’s ¹  splendor ²  has departed. ³  Her leaders became like deer; they found no pasture, so they were too exhausted to escape ⁴  from the hunter. ⁵ 

We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ¹  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ²  and to all the inhabitants ³  of the land as well.

They turn to Baal; ¹  they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal ²  have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ³ 

Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a means of strength to us through their God, the Lord who rules over all.’

Jesus ¹  was teaching daily in the temple courts. The chief priests and the experts in the law ²  and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate ³  him,

Then the Jewish leaders ¹  said to him, “This temple has been under construction ²  for forty-six years, ³  and are you going to raise it up in three days?”

For this reason the Jewish leaders ¹  were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

Then the Jewish leaders ¹  said to one another, “Where is he ²  going to go that we cannot find him? ³  He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed ⁴  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? ⁵ 

Now the Jewish religious leaders ¹  refused to believe ²  that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned ³  the parents of the man who had become able to see. ⁴ 

Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ¹  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ²  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ³  now I tell you the same. ⁴ 

Pilate asked, ¹  “What is truth?” ²  When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders ³  and announced, ⁴  “I find no basis for an accusation ⁵  against him.

Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, ¹  “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation ²  against him.”

From this point on, Pilate tried ¹  to release him. But the Jewish leaders ²  shouted out, ³  “If you release this man, ⁴  you are no friend of Caesar! ⁵  Everyone who claims to be a king ⁶  opposes Caesar!”

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders ¹ ), ²  asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate ³  gave him permission, so he went and took the body away. ⁴ 

After the reading from the law and the prophets, ¹  the leaders of the synagogue ²  sent them a message, ³  saying, “Brothers, ⁴  if you have any message ⁵  of exhortation ⁶  for the people, speak it.” ⁷ 

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided ¹  to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, ²  leaders among the brothers, to Antioch ³  with Paul and Barnabas.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. ¹  Let them do this ²  with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.