Micah 2:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 They covet fields and seize them,
houses and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance.(A)
Isaiah 5:8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Social Injustice Denounced
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is room for no one,
and you are left to live alone
in the midst of the land!(A)
Amos 8:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,(A)
Jeremiah 22:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 But your eyes and heart
are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.(A)
Ezekiel 18:12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination,(A)
Read full chapter
1 Timothy 6:10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Read full chapter
Matthew 23:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in you stop them.[a](A)
Read full chapter
Malachi 3:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.(A)
Read full chapter
Micah 3:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
and pervert all equity,(A)
Ezekiel 22:12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest and make gain of your neighbors by extortion, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.(A)
Read full chapter
Job 31:38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
38 “If my land has cried out against me
and its furrows have wept together,(A)
Job 24:2-12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 The wicked[a] remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.(A)
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.(B)
4 They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.(C)
5 Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
food for their young.(D)
6 They reap in a field not their own,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.(E)
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.(F)
9 “There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.(G)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 between their terraces[b] they press out oil;
they tread the winepresses but suffer thirst.
12 From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.(H)
Nehemiah 5:1-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Nehemiah Deals with Oppression
5 Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin.(A) 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.” 3 There were also those who said, “We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax.(B) 5 Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.”(C)
Read full chapter
2 Kings 9:26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 ‘For the blood of Naboth and for the blood of his children that I saw yesterday, says the Lord, I swear I will repay you on this very plot of ground.’ Now, therefore, lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the Lord.”(A)
Read full chapter
1 Kings 21:2-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 And Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it, or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.”(A) 3 But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.”(B) 4 Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you my ancestral inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat.(C)
5 His wife Jezebel came to him and said, “Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?” 6 He said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it,’ but he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’ ” 7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”(D)
8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city.(E) 9 She wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; 10 seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”(F) 11 The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, 12 they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. 13 The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him, and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.(G) 14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.”
15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead.” 16 As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
Elijah Pronounces God’s Sentence
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,(H) 18 “Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules[a] in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession.(I) 19 You shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession? You shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.”(J)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 21.18 Heb who is
1 Samuel 12:3-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me,[a] and I will restore it to you.”(A) 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from the hand of anyone.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 12.3 Gk: Heb lacks Testify against me
Exodus 22:21-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.(A) 22 You shall not abuse any widow or orphan.(B) 23 If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry;(C) 24 my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.(D)
Read full chapter
Exodus 20:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”(A)
Read full chapter
Habakkuk 2:5-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Moreover, wealth[a] is treacherous;
the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves
and collect all peoples as their own.(A)
The Woes of the Wicked
6 Shall not everyone taunt such people and, with mocking riddles, say about them,
“Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!”
How long will you load yourselves with goods taken in pledge?(B)
7 Will not your own creditors suddenly rise
and those who make you tremble wake up?
Then you will be plunder for them.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
all who survive of the peoples shall plunder you—
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who live in them.(C)
9 “Alas for you who get evil gain for your house,
setting your nest on high
to be safe from the reach of harm!”(D)
Footnotes
- 2.5 Q mss: MT wine
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.