1-2. (a) Vass henn samm governments gedu zu Jehova sei leit, un vass henn sei leit gedu? (b) Vi kann ma haebbi sei vann ma persecute is? (Gukket’s piktah uf da cover.)

 RIGHT now, our work is restricted or banned in over 30 lands around the world. In some of those lands, the authorities have imprisoned our brothers and sisters. What did they do wrong? Nothing, as far as Jehovah is concerned. All they have done is read and study the Bible, share their beliefs with others, and attend meetings with fellow believers. They have also refused to take sides in political matters. Despite intense opposition, these faithful servants of God have maintained their integrity b​—showing unbreakable devotion to Jehovah. And they are happy for doing just that!

² You have likely seen pictures of some of these courageous Witnesses and noticed their smiling faces. They are joyful because they know that Jehovah is pleased with them for keeping their integrity to him. (1 Chron. 29:17a) Jesus said: “Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake . . . Rejoice and be overjoyed, since your reward is great.”​—Matt. 5:10-12.

3. Funn vass Apostelgeschichte 4:19, 20 sawkt, vass henn di aposhtla gedu vann si persecute voahra, un favass?

³ Our brothers and sisters are experiencing what the apostles endured in the first century when they were persecuted for preaching about Jesus. Repeatedly, the judges of the Jewish high court “ordered them to stop speaking on the basis of Jesus’ name.” (Acts 4:18; 5:27, 28, 40) How did the apostles react? (Read Acts 4:19, 20.) They knew that a higher authority had ‘ordered them to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness’ about the Christ. (Acts 10:42) So their spokesmen, Peter and John, boldly said that they would obey God rather than those judges and declared that they would not stop speaking about Jesus. In effect, they put this question to those authorities, ‘Do you dare to say that your commands are superior to those of God?’

4. Funn vass Apostelgeschichte 5:27-29 sawkt, vass fa’n example voahra di aposhtla fa awl Christians, un vi kenna miah si immatayda?

⁴ The apostles set a fine example that all true Christians have followed ever since, namely, to “obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Read Acts 5:27-29.) After being beaten for keeping their integrity, the apostles went out from the Jewish high court, “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of [Jesus’] name,” and they kept right on preaching!​—Acts 5:40-42.

5. Vass fa questions missa miah ensahra?

⁵ The example that the apostles set raises some questions. For instance, how did their decision to obey God rather than men harmonize with the Scriptural command to “be in subjection to the superior authorities”? (Rom. 13:1) How can we “be obedient to governments and authorities,” as the apostle Paul said, and still keep integrity to God as our foremost Ruler?​—Titus 3:1.

6. (a) Veah sinn “di ivvah-saynah fumm land” an Römer 13:1, un vi sedda miah si treeda? (b) Vass vissa miah veyyich awl human roolahs?

⁶ Read Romans 13:1. In this verse, the term “superior authorities” refers to human rulers who have power and control over others. Christians are subject to these secular authorities. These rulers maintain public order, enforce the law, and at times even come to the defense of Jehovah’s people. (Rev. 12:16) Thus, we are commanded to render them the taxes, tributes, fear, and honor that they demand. (Rom. 13:7) However, those secular governments have authority only because Jehovah allows them to have it. Jesus made that principle clear when he was interrogated by Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. When Pilate referred to the authority he had either to spare Jesus’ life or to have him put to death, Jesus told him: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been granted to you from above.” (John 19:11) As was the case with Pilate, the authority of all human rulers and politicians today is limited.

7. Vann sedda miah nett heicha zu human roolahs, un vass missa si meinda?

⁷ Christians submit to human governments when secular laws do not contradict God’s laws. But we cannot obey men when they require what God forbids or when they forbid what God requires. For example, they may require young men to fight in the armed forces of the nation. c Or they may ban our Bible and our Bible-based publications and forbid us to preach and to worship together. When rulers misuse their authority, such as by persecuting Christ’s disciples, they must answer to God. Jehovah is watching!​—Eccl. 5:8.

8. Vass is da diffans zvishich “ivvah-saynah” un “Alli-Haychsht,” un favass macht’s ebbes aus?

⁸ The word “superior” means “better, greater, higher in rank.” But it does not mean “best, greatest, highest in rank.” That describes another word​—“supreme.” Even though human governments are referred to as “the superior authorities,” there exists another authority that is the highest in rank​—supreme. Four times in the Bible, Jehovah God is given the title “the Supreme One.”​—Dan. 7:18, 22, 25, 27.

9. Vass hott da Daniel ksenna in di visions?

⁹ The prophet Daniel saw visions that clearly showed Jehovah’s supremacy over all other authorities. Daniel first saw four huge beasts that symbolize past and present world powers​—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome and its modern-day offshoot, Anglo-America. (Dan. 7:1-3, 17) Then Daniel saw Jehovah God sitting enthroned in the heavenly court. (Dan. 7:9, 10) What that faithful prophet saw next should serve as a warning to rulers today.

10. Funn vass Daniel 7:13, 14, 27 sawkt, veah dutt Jehova kaynich macha ivvah di eaht, un vass veist sell veyyich een?

¹⁰ Read Daniel 7:13, 14, 27. God takes all rulership away from human governments and gives it to others more deserving and more powerful. To whom?  To “someone like a son of man,” Jesus Christ, and to “the holy ones of the Supreme One,” the 144,000 who will rule “forever and ever.” (Dan. 7:18) Clearly, Jehovah is “the Supreme One,” for he alone has the authority to take such action.

11. Vass shunsht hott da Daniel kshrivva es veist es Jehova da Alli-Haychsht is ivvah awl di roolahs?

¹¹ The event that Daniel saw in vision harmonizes with something he had stated earlier. “The God of heaven,” Daniel said, “removes kings and sets up kings.” He also wrote that “the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that he gives it to whomever he wants.” (Dan. 2:19-21; 4:17) Have there been occasions when Jehovah removed or set up rulers? Absolutely!

12. Gevvet en example funn vass Jehova gedu hott zu kaynicha. (Gukket’s piktah uf da cover.)

¹² Jehovah has clearly demonstrated his supremacy over “the superior authorities.” Consider three examples. Pharaoh of Egypt enslaved Jehovah’s people and repeatedly refused to release them. But God set them free and drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea. (Ex. 14:26-28; Ps. 136:15) King Belshazzar of Babylon held a feast and “exalted [himself] against the Lord of the heavens” and “praised gods of silver and gold” instead of Jehovah. (Dan. 5:22, 23) But God humbled that arrogant man. On “that very night,” Belshazzar was killed and his kingdom was given into the hands of the Medes and the Persians. (Dan. 5:28, 30, 31) King Herod Agrippa I of Palestine had the apostle James killed and then imprisoned the apostle Peter, with the intention of doing away with him. But Jehovah prevented Herod from carrying out his plan. “The angel of Jehovah struck him,” and he died.​—Acts 12:1-5, 21-23.

13. Gevvet en example funn vi Jehova en group funn roolahs ivvah gnumma hott.

¹³ Jehovah has also shown his supremacy over entire coalitions of rulers. He fought for Israel, enabling them to destroy an alliance of 31 Canaanite kings  and to conquer large portions of the Promised Land. (Josh. 11:4-6, 20; 12:1, 7, 24) Jehovah also dealt a crushing blow to King Ben-hadad and 32 other Syrian rulers who battled with Israel.​—1 Ki. 20:1, 26-29.

14-15. (a) Vass henn da Nebukadnezar un da Darius ksawt veyyich Jehova sei recht fa roola? (b) Vass hott da shreivah funn Psalm 33 ksawt veyyich Jehova un Sei leit?

¹⁴ Time and again, Jehovah has proved to be the Supreme One! When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon boasted about ‘his own strength and might and the glory of his majesty’ instead of humbly acknowledging Jehovah as the One deserving of praise, God struck him with insanity. After he recovered, Nebuchadnezzar “praised the Most High” and acknowledged that “[Jehovah’s] rulership is an everlasting rulership.” He added: “There is no one who can hinder him.” (Dan. 4:30, 33-35) After Daniel’s integrity to God was tested and Jehovah rescued him from the lions’ pit, King Darius decreed: “People are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his sovereignty is eternal.”​—Dan. 6:7-10, 19-22, 26, 27, ftn.

¹⁵ The psalmist observed: “Jehovah has frustrated the schemes of the nations; he has thwarted the plans of the peoples.” He added: “Happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people he has chosen as his own possession.” (Ps. 33:10, 12) What good reason, indeed, we have to keep our integrity to Jehovah!

16. Vass kenna miah shuah sei diveyya vann’s kumd zu “di grohs dreebsawl,” un favass? (Gukket’s piktah.)

¹⁶ We have read what Jehovah has done in the past. What, then, may we  expect in the near future? We can be confident that Jehovah will rescue his loyal servants during the coming “great tribulation.” (Matt. 24:21; Dan. 12:1) He will do this when a coalition of nations, known as Gog of Magog, makes its vicious, worldwide assault on those who are faithful to Jehovah. Even if that coalition includes all 193 members of the United Nations, it will be no match for the Supreme One and his heavenly forces! Jehovah promises: “I will certainly magnify myself and sanctify myself and make myself known before the eyes of many nations; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.”​—Ezek. 38:14-16, 23; Ps. 46:10.

17. Vass sawkt di Bivvel es haebna zayld zu di kaynicha funn di eaht un zu selli es faythfel bleiva zu Jehova?

¹⁷ Gog’s assault will trigger Jehovah’s final showdown at Armageddon when He destroys “the kings of the entire inhabited earth.” (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:19-21) In contrast, “only the upright will reside in the earth, and the one who keeps integrity will remain in it.”​—Prov. 2:21, ftn.

18. Vass voahra feel Christians willing fa du, un favass? (Daniel 3:28)

¹⁸ Over the centuries, many true Christians have risked their freedom and even their lives out of love for Jehovah as their Sovereign Ruler. They are integrity-keepers, who have resolve like that of the three Hebrews whose lives were spared in the fiery furnace for remaining faithful to the Supreme One.​—Read Daniel 3:28.

19. Vi zayld Jehova sei leit judga, un vass maynd sell fa uns nau?

¹⁹ The psalmist David wrote about the importance of keeping integrity to God: “Jehovah will pass sentence on the peoples. Judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity.” (Ps. 7:8) Again, David wrote: “May integrity and uprightness safeguard me.” (Ps. 25:21) The best way to live is to remain faithful to Jehovah, maintaining our loyalty to him no matter what comes our way! Then we will feel the same as did the psalmist who wrote: “Happy are those who keep integrity . . . , who walk in the law of Jehovah.”​—Ps. 119:1, ftn.