-
Psalms 12:5
“ Because of the violence done to the oppressed, because of the painful cries of the needy, I will spring into action,” says the LORD.“ I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.”
-
Psalms 146:7
vindicates the oppressed, and gives food to the hungry. The LORD releases the imprisoned.
-
Deuteronomy 24:14-15
You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
-
Ezekiel 22:7
They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you.
-
Proverbs 22:22-23
Do not exploit a poor person because he is poor and do not crush the needy in court,for the LORD will plead their case and will rob those who are robbing them.
-
Isaiah 58:6-7
No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!
-
Psalms 9:9
Consequently the LORD provides safety for the oppressed; he provides safety in times of trouble.
-
Ezekiel 22:12-14
They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the sovereign LORD.“‘ See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you.Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it!
-
Psalms 72:12
For he will rescue the needy when they cry out for help, and the oppressed who have no defender.
-
Micah 3:2-4
yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones.You devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot– like meat in a kettle.Someday these sinners will cry to the LORD for help, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done such wicked deeds.”
-
James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you.Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth- eaten.Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure!Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.
-
Micah 2:1-3
Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, because they have the power to do so.They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited.Therefore the LORD says this:“ Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of catastrophe.
-
Psalms 109:31
because he stands at the right hand of the needy, to deliver him from those who threaten his life.
-
Psalms 10:14-18
You have taken notice, for you always see one who inflicts pain and suffering. The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; you deliver the fatherless.Break the arm of the wicked and evil man! Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, which he thought you would not discover.The LORD rules forever! The nations are driven out of his land.LORD, you have heard the request of the oppressed; you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer.You defend the fatherless and oppressed, so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them.
-
Proverbs 14:31
The one who oppresses the poor insults his Creator, but whoever shows favor to the needy honors him.
-
Job 27:13-23
This is the portion of the wicked man allotted by God, the inheritance that evildoers receive from the Almighty.If his children increase– it is for the sword! His offspring never have enough to eat.Those who survive him are buried by the plague, and their widows do not mourn for them.If he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,what he stores up a righteous man will wear, and an innocent man will inherit his silver.The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made.He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; at night a whirlwind carries him off.The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power.It claps its hands at him in derision and hisses him away from his place.
-
Psalms 72:4
He will defend the oppressed among the people; he will deliver the children of the poor and crush the oppressor.
-
James 2:6
But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?
-
Jeremiah 7:6-15
Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.“‘ But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known.Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say,“ We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the LORD.So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did.You also have done all these things, says the LORD, and I have spoken to you over and over again. But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent!So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just like I destroyed Shiloh.And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.’”
-
Proverbs 23:10
Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or take over the fields of the fatherless,
-
Isaiah 14:4-32
you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words:“ Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased!The LORD has broken the club of the wicked, the scepter of rulers.It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint.The whole earth rests and is quiet; they break into song.The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing,‘ Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones.All of them respond to you, saying:‘ You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us!Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you.Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!You said to yourself,“ I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon.I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!”But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the pit.Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking:“ Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble?Is this the one who made the world like a desert, who ruined its cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’As for all the kings of the nations, all of them lie down in splendor, each in his own tomb.But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. You lie among the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for the stones of the pit, as if you were a mangled corpse.You will not be buried with them, because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities.”“ I will rise up against them,” says the LORD who commands armies.“ I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, including the offspring she produces,” says the LORD.“ I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” says the LORD who commands armies.The LORD who commands armies makes this solemn vow:“ Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen.I will break Assyria in my land, I will trample them underfoot on my hills. Their yoke will be removed from my people, the burden will be lifted from their shoulders.This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth; my hand is ready to strike all the nations.”Indeed, the LORD who commands armies has a plan, and who can possibly frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can possibly stop it?In the year King Ahaz died, this message was revealed:Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder.The poor will graze in my pastures; the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors.Wail, O city gate! Cry out, O city! Melt with fear, all you Philistines! For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? Indeed, the LORD has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.