"Democracy...from Greek demokratia...from demos, 'the people,' and kratos, power or rule'..."
"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.'
"Aaron answered them, 'Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.' So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, 'This is your god, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt'...
Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt...I have seen these people,' the Lord said to Moses, 'and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.' " -- Exodus 32:1-4,7,9-10
"So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, 'You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.'
But when they said, 'Give us a king to lead us,' this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.' " - I Samuel 8:4-7
"So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, 'Whom do you want me to release for you ? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ ?' For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death...the governor said to them, 'Which of the two do you want me to release for you ?' And they said, 'Barabbas.' Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ ?' They all said, 'Crucify Him !' And he said, 'Why, what evil has He done ?' But they kept shouting all the more, saying, 'Crucify Him !' "
-- Matthew 27:17-18, 20-23
