Psalm 103:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
Psalm 12:5
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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 9:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.(A)
Psalm 72:12
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12 For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.(A)
Proverbs 14:31
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31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.(A)
Psalm 146:7
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7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;(A)
Deuteronomy 24:14-15
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14 “You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.(A) 15 You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.(B)
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James 2:6
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6 But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the courts?(A)
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Psalm 109:31
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31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save them from those who would condemn them to death.(A)
Micah 3:2-4
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2 you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin off my people[a]
and the flesh off their bones,(A)
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.(B)
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.(C)
Proverbs 22:22-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor
or crush the afflicted at the gate,(A)
23 for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.(B)
Micah 2:1-3
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)
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Now, I am devising against this family an evil
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk arrogantly,
for it will be an evil time.(C)
Footnotes
- 2.1 Cn: Heb work evil
Ezekiel 22:12-14
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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)
13 See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made and at the blood that has been shed within you. 14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.(B)
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Ezekiel 22:7
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7 Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you.(A)
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Psalm 72:4
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4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.(A)
Job 27:13-23
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13 “This is the portion of the wicked with God
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:[a](A)
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
and their offspring have not enough to eat.(B)
15 Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.(C)
16 Though they heap up silver like dust
and pile up clothing like clay,(D)
17 they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.(E)
18 They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19 They go to bed with wealth but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.(F)
20 Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.(G)
21 The east wind lifts them up, and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.(H)
22 It[b] hurls at them without pity;
they flee from its[c] power in headlong flight.(I)
23 It[d] claps its[e] hands at them
and hisses at them from its[f] place.(J)
James 5:1-6
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) 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.(C) 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.
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- 5.3 Or will eat your flesh, since you have stored up fire
Jeremiah 7:6-15
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6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,(A) 7 then I will dwell with you[a] in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.
8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail.(B) 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known(C) 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations?(D) 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? I, too, am watching, says the Lord.(E) 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.(F) 13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,(G) 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors just what I did to Shiloh.(H) 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.(I)
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- 7.7 Or and I will let you dwell
Isaiah 58:6-7
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6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?(A)
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?(B)
Isaiah 14:4-32
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence[a] has ceased!(A)
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck down the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.(B)
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8 The cypresses exult over you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.”(C)
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.(D)
10 All of them will speak
and say to you:
“You, too, have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!”
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.(E)
12 How you are fallen from heaven,
O Morning Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!(F)
13 You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
on the heights of Zaphon;[b](G)
14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”(H)
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.(I)
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,(J)
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who would not let his prisoners go home?”(K)
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb,
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like loathsome carrion,[c]
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit
like a corpse trampled underfoot.(L)
20 You will not be joined with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land;
you have killed your people.
May the descendants of evildoers
nevermore be named!(M)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their father.[d]
Let them never rise to possess the earth
or cover the face of the world with cities.(N)
22 I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the Lord.(O) 23 And I will make it a possession of the screech owl[e] and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.(P)
An Oracle concerning Assyria
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have designed,
so shall it be,
and as I have planned,
so shall it come to pass:(Q)
25 I will break the Assyrian in my land
and on my mountains trample him under foot;
his yoke shall be removed from them
and his burden from their shoulders.(R)
26 This is the plan that is planned
concerning the whole earth,
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.(S)
27 For the Lord of hosts has planned,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?(T)
An Oracle concerning Philistia
28 In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:(U)
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.(V)
30 In my pastures the poor[f] will graze
and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
and your remnant I[g] will kill.(W)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in its ranks.(X)
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
and the needy among his people
will find refuge in her.”(Y)
Psalm 10:14-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 But you do see! Indeed, you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.(A)
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
seek out their wickedness until you find none.(B)
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations shall perish from his land.(C)
17 O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear(D)
18 to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.[a](E)
Footnotes
- 10.18 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Proverbs 23:10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 Do not remove an ancient landmark
or encroach on the fields of orphans,(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.