58 Bible Verses about Oppression, Nature Of

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that sneers at him.

The wicked in his pride does persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed those who were sick, neither have you bound up those who were broken, neither have you brought again those who were driven away, neither have you sought those who were lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.

Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

You shall not pervert the justice of your poor in his dispute.

If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother:

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

He that gives unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.

The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have oppressed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That trample on the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maiden, to defile my holy name:

Since therefore you tread upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

Hear this, O you that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judges?

You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger, nor the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as pledge:

They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate:

They break in pieces your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.

If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.

Who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive greater condemnation.

You shall neither wrong a stranger, nor oppress him: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your descendants shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Also you shall not oppress a stranger: for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

And if a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. But the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

You shall not abhor an Edomite; for he is your brother: you shall not abhor an Egyptian; because you were a stranger in his land.

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Thus says the LORD; Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

You shall not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brethren, or of your strangers that are in your land within your gates: Each day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it: lest he cry against you unto the LORD, and it be sin unto you.

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning.

Why have we fasted, they say, and you see not? why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers.

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them who have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto you; I bore the loss of it; of my hand did you require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there come upon us any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so escape out of the land.read more.
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor. And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then you shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and are delivered before the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

For thus says the Lord GOD, My people went down at first into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and grown rich. They have grown fat, they shine: yea, they pass over the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not defend.

Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice of any of the afflicted.

To turn aside the needy from justice, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

But your eyes and your heart are for nothing but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there come upon us any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so escape out of the land.

And answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

As a roaring lion, and a charging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

Cursed be he that perverts the justice due the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Whosoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers. He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.

For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Hew you down trees, and cast a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be punished; she is full of oppression in the midst of her.

Thus says the LORD; Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: