Proverbs 30:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 there are those whose teeth are swords,
whose teeth are knives
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mortals.(A)
Psalm 57:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 I lie down among lions
that greedily devour[a] human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongues sharp swords.(A)
Footnotes
- 57.4 Cn: Heb are aflame for
Psalm 3:7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Psalm 14:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?(A)
Job 29:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.(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)
Ecclesiastes 4:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.(A)
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Revelation 9:8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;(A)
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Psalm 12:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord;
“I will place them in the safety for which they long.”(A)
Psalm 10:8-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places they murder the innocent.
Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;(A)
9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its den;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.(B)
James 5:1-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Warning to Rich Oppressors
5 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.(A) 3 Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure[a] during the last days. 4 Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.(B)
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- 5.3 Or will eat your flesh, since you have stored up fire
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)
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Zephaniah 3:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 The officials within it
are roaring lions;
its judges are evening wolves
that leave nothing until the morning.(A)
Habakkuk 3:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 You pierced with their[a] own arrows the head of his warriors,[b]
who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,[c]
gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
Micah 3:1-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Wicked Rulers and Prophets
3 And I said:
Listen, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice?—(A)
2 you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin off my people[a]
and the flesh off their bones,(B)
3 who eat the flesh of my people,
flay their skin off them,
break their bones in pieces,
and chop them up like meat[b] in a kettle,
like flesh in a caldron.(C)
4 Then they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
he will hide his face from them at that time
because they have acted wickedly.(D)
5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,
who cry “Peace”
when they have something to eat
but declare war against those
who put nothing into their mouths.(E)
Micah 2:1-2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Social Evils Denounced
2 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and evil deeds[a] on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in their power.(A)
2 They covet fields and seize them,
houses and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance.(B)
Footnotes
- 2.1 Cn: Heb work evil
Amos 4:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
who are on Mount Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!”(A)
Amos 2:7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same young woman,
so that my holy name is profaned;(A)
Daniel 7:5-7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks[a] in its mouth among its teeth, and was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” 6 After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads, and dominion was given to it.(A) 7 After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns.(B)
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- 7.5 Or ribs
Isaiah 32:7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 The villainies of villains are evil;
they devise wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.(A)
Proverbs 28:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 A poor person who oppresses the poor
is a beating rain that leaves no food.(A)
Proverbs 22:16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself,
and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
Proverbs 12:18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 Rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.(A)
Psalm 58:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!(A)
Psalm 52:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.(A)
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.