“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

Nehemiah Helps the Poor

Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews.

as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.

For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.

They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.

The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.

because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

“If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

who shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?

They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.

“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”

You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.

who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.