60 Bible Verses about Oppression, God's Attitude To
Most Relevant Verses
You must not oppress [the] widow, [the] orphan, [the] foreigner, and [the] needy. You must not devise evil in your heart {against one another}.'
Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate; For Yahweh will plead their case and despoil those who despoil them of life.
For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor, you do not oppress [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods {to your harm}, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors {forever and ever}.
Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized [the] godless: "Who of us can {live} [with] devouring fire? Who of us can {live} [with] everlasting consuming hearths?" He who walks [in] righteousness and speaks uprightness, who rejects [the] gain of extortion, who {refuses} bribe, who stops up his ears from hearing {bloodshed} and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.
May he provide justice [for the] poor of [the] people, save [the] children of [the] needy, and crush [the] oppressor.
Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm, to guide [the] needy away from legal claims, and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans. And what will you do at [the] day of punishment, and at calamity? It comes from afar! To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,
He who mocks the poor insults him who made him; he who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.
Therefore the holy one of Israel says this: "Because you [are] rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and {cunning} and you rely on it, therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall, bulging out on a high wall {that breaks} suddenly, [in] an instant.
They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; {they violated} the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated [the] orphan and widow.
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals!
Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine.
Woe [to] those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands. They covet fields and seize [them], and houses, and they take [them] away. They oppress a man and his house; a man and his inheritance. Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Look! I am planning disaster against this family from which you will not be able to remove your necks. You will not walk proudly, for it [is] a time of disaster.
Woe to the city [that has shed] {much blood}! {She is a deceiver}, She is filled [with] plunder, {She has hoarded her spoils of war}.
"But woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, and neglect justice and love for God! But it was necessary to do these [things] without neglecting those things also.
[And he] executes justice for the orphan and widow, and [he is] one who loves [the] alien, to give to them food and clothing.
He raises up the poor from [the] dust. From [the] ash heap he lifts up the needy, to cause them to sit with noble people and to cause them to inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth belong to Yahweh and he has set the inhabited world on them.
[who] executes justice for the oppressed, [who] gives food for the hungry. Yahweh sets prisoners free; Yahweh opens [the eyes of the] blind; Yahweh raises up [those] bowed down; Yahweh loves [the] righteous; Yahweh protects [the] strangers. He helps up [the] orphan and [the] widow, but [the] way of [the] wicked he {thwarts}.
[The] longing of [the] afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh. You will make their heart secure. You will {listen attentively} to render judgment [for the] fatherless and [the] oppressed [so that] a [mere] mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.
"Because of [the] oppression of [the] afflicted, because of [the] groaning of [the] poor, now I will rise up," Yahweh says. "I shall put [them] in [the] safety [for which] they long."
A father to orphans and a judge for widows [is] God in his holy habitation.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The people of Israel [are] oppressed, and the people of Judah likewise, {for} all their captors have seized them, they refuse to let them go free. Their redeemer [is] strong, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts. Surely he will plead their case, in order to make peace [for] the earth, but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
And he saves from the sword of their mouth, {even} [the] poor from the hand of the strong.
And Yahweh said, "Surely I have seen the misery of my people who [are] in Egypt, and I have heard their cry of distress because of their oppressors, for I know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of [the] Egyptians and to bring them up from this land to a good and wide land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. And now, look, the cry of distress of the {Israelites} has come to me, and also I see the oppression [with] which [the] Egyptians [are] oppressing them.
Then you shall say to your child, 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand.
All of my bones shall say, "O Yahweh, who [is] like you, who delivers [the] poor from [one] stronger than he and [the] poor and needy from [the one who] robs him?"
Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble. He delivered them from their distresses
Then they called to Yahweh for help in their trouble; he saved them from their distresses.
Then they called to Yahweh for help in their trouble. He saved them from their distresses.
And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which {you had to perform}, that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon, and you will say: "How [the] oppressor has ceased! [his] insolence has ceased.
And I will feed your oppressors their [own] flesh, and they shall be drunk [with] their blood as [with] wine. Then all flesh shall know that I [am] Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong [one] of Jacob."
{I have certainly seen} the mistreatment of my people [who are] in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
Rise up, O Yahweh; O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget [the] afflicted.
And the {Israelites} cried to Yahweh, as he [had] nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the {Israelites} {cruelly} for twenty years.
The {Ammonites} crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was very distressed. Then the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, saying, "We have sinned against you; we have abandoned our God and served the Baals."
and we return to you,' with their whole heart and with all their inmost being in the land of their captivity where they took them captive, and [if] they pray toward their land that you have given to their ancestors and the city that you have chosen and to the house that I have built for your name, then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and uphold their case and forgive your people who sinned against you.
I say to God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mourning because of [the] oppression of [the] enemy?"
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, because in you my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by.
Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your {power}, spare [the] children [appointed to] death.
Judge [on behalf of the] helpless and [the] orphan; provide justice [to the] afflicted and [the] poor. Rescue [the] helpless and [the] needy; deliver [them] from the hand of [the] wicked."
O Yahweh, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O Judge of the earth. Repay upon the proud what is [their] rightful due. How long [will the] wicked, O Yahweh, how long will [the] wicked exult?read more.
{They gush words} unrestrained. All [the] evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Yahweh; they oppress your inheritance. They kill widow and stranger, and they murder orphans, while they say, "Yah does not see," and "The God of Jacob does not pay attention."
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "{How long}, holy and true Lord, will you not judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?"
Now about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying [and] singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
But I myself know [that] my redeemer [is] alive, and [at the] last he will stand up upon {the earth}.
As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for [the] living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while [they] say to me all day [long], "Where [is] your God?"
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me alive. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies, and you save me [with] your right hand.
For our momentary light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory {beyond all measure and proportion},
but commending ourselves as servants of God in every [way], in much endurance, in afflictions, in distresses, in difficulties, in beatings, in prisons, in disturbances, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in going hungry,
So then also those who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing good.
And you must not glean your vineyard, and you must not gather your vineyard's fallen grapes; you must leave them behind for the needy and for the alien; I [am] Yahweh your God.
"When you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to get it, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat off the fruit of your olive trees you shall not search through the branches afterward, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you harvest [grapes], you shall not glean your vineyards {again}; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the {needy}. Open your mouth, judge righteousness, and defend [the] poor and needy.
Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say, 'Here I [am]!' If you remove from among you [the] yoke, the {finger-pointing} and {evil speech}, if you offer your soul to the hungry, and you satisfy [the] appetite of [the] afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness [will be] like noon.
Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Judge [with] trustworthy justice, and show steadfast love and compassion {to one another}.
But you, [when you] practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, [you] who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! For I was hungry and you gave me [something] to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me [something] to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me as a guest, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to me.'read more.
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed [you], or thirsty and give [you something] to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome [you] as a guest, or naked and clothe [you]? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?'
