18 Bible Verses about Riots

Before they could lie down, all the men of Sodom and its outskirts, both young and old, surrounded the house. They called out to Lot and asked, "Where are the men who came to visit you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!" Lot went outside to them, shut the door behind him, read more.
and said, "I urge you, my brothers, don't do such a wicked thing. Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish, only don't do anything to these men, because they're here under my protection." But they replied, "Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he's acting like a judge! So we're going to deal more harshly with you than with them." Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door. But the angels inside reached out, dragged Lot back into the house with them, shut the door, and blinded the men who were at the entrance of the house, from the least important to the greatest, so they were unable to find the doorway.

So the leading men of the city ordered Joash, "Bring us that son of yours. He's going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!" But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, "Do you really intend to fight on Baal's behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down."

As soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, telling him as they did: "You must certainly die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be without an inhabitant?" Then all the people gathered around Jeremiah at the LORD's Temple. When the Judean officials heard all these things, they came up from the king's house to the LORD's Temple and sat in the doorway of the New Gate of the LORD's Temple. read more.
The priests and prophets told the officials and all the people, "A death sentence for this man, because he prophesied against this city, as you heard with your own ears!"

All the people in the synagogue became furious when they heard this. They got up, forced Jesus out of the city, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their city was built, intending to throw him off. But he walked right through the middle of them and went away.

Now about that time a great commotion broke out concerning the Way. By making silver shrines of Artemis, a silversmith named Demetrius provided a large income for skilled workers. He called a meeting of these men and others who were engaged in similar trades and said, "Men, you well know that we get a good income from this business. read more.
You also see and hear that, not only in Ephesus, but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has won over and taken away a large crowd by telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. There is a danger not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into disrepute and that she will be robbed of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her." When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" The city was filled with confusion, and the people rushed into the theater together, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's fellow travelers from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go into the crowd, but the disciples wouldn't let him. Even some officials of the province of Asia who were his friends sent him a message urging him not to risk his life in the theater. Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and some another, since the crowd was confused, and most of them didn't know why they were meeting. Some of the crowd concluded it was because of Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front. So Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people. But when they found out that he was a Jew, they all started to shout in unison for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger;

But the high priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to demand that Jesus be put to death. So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!"read more.
He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!" Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves."

At every festival, Pilate would release any one prisoner whom the people requested. Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He had been with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion. So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate do for them what he always did. read more.
Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?" because he knew that the high priests had handed him over due to jealousy. But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead. So Pilate asked them again, "Then what should I do with the man you call "the King of the Jews'?" "Crucify him!" they shouted back. "Why?" Pilate asked them. "What has he done wrong?" But they shouted even louder, "Crucify him!" So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen. But they could neither refute the wisdom nor withstand the Spirit by which he kept speaking. read more.
So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. Then they rushed at Stephen, grabbed him, and brought him before the Council. They had false witnesses stand up and say, "This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

But the Jewish leaders became jealous, and they took some contemptible characters who used to hang out in the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the people. When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These fellows who have turned the world upside down have come here, too, and Jason has welcomed them as his guests. All of them oppose the emperor's decrees by saying that there is another king Jesus!"read more.
The crowd and the city officials were upset when they heard this, but after they had gotten a bond from Jason and the others, they let them go.

When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the Temple, stirred up a large crowd. They grabbed Paul, yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place." For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple. read more.
The whole city was in chaos. The people rushed together, grabbed Paul, dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the doors were sealed shut. The crowd was trying to kill Paul when a report reached the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Immediately the tribune took some soldiers and officers and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up, grabbed Paul, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He then asked who Paul was and what he had done. Some of the crowd shouted this and some that. Since the tribune couldn't learn the facts due to the confusion, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because the mob had become so violent.

Then the high priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. They conspired to arrest Jesus by treachery and to kill him. But they kept saying, "This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there'll be a riot among the people."

Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death, because they kept saying, "This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there'll be a riot among the people."

When the city recorder had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world doesn't know that this city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell down from heaven? Since these things cannot be denied, you must be quiet and not do anything reckless. For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme our goddess. read more.
So if Demetrius and his workers have a charge against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They should accuse one another there. But if you want anything else, it must be settled in the regular assembly, because we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, and there is no good reason we can give to justify this commotion." After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

For we have found this man a perfect pest and an agitator among all Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes and even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him. By examining him for yourself, you will be able to find out from him everything of which we accuse him."read more.
The Jewish leaders supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true. When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he replied: "Since I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I am pleased to present my defense. You can verify for yourself that I went up to worship in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago. They never found me debating with anyone in the Temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or throughout the city,

Let's behave decently, as people who live in the light of day. No wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, quarreling, or jealousy!

The night is almost over, and the day is near. Let's therefore put aside the actions of darkness and put on the armor of light.

suffering harm as punishment for their wrongdoing. They take pleasure in wild parties in broad daylight. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceitful pleasures while they eat with you.