68 Bible Verses about Poverty, Attitudes Towards

If there should be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy towns in thy land which the LORD thy God gives thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he lacks.

Whosoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker, and he that is glad regarding the calamity of someone else shall not go unpunished.

sharing for the needs of the saints, and given to hospitality.

Therefore as long as we have the opportunity, let us do good unto everyone, especially unto those who are of the household of faith.

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says unto them, Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled; but ye do not give them those things which are needful for the body; what shall it profit them?

But whosoever has this world's goods and sees his brother have need and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how does the charity of God abide in him?

Thou shalt not pervert the rights of thy poor in his cause.

And if thy brother becomes poor and comes unto thee, then thou shalt receive him; as a stranger, or a sojourner, he shall live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase; but thou shalt have the fear of thy God, and thy brother shall live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy food for increase.

Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. In his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and with it sustains his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many sheep and cows, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children; it ate of his own food and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.read more.
And a traveller came unto the rich man, who did not wish to take of his own sheep and of his own cows to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that had come to him.

Why, seeing that times are not hidden from the Almighty, do those that know him not see his days? Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and feed thereof. They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.read more.
They turn the needy out of the way; and all the poor of the earth hide themselves from them.

Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither destroy the destitute in judgment:

The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand wisdom.

and say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that doth sit upon the throne of David, thou, and thy slaves and thy people that enter in by these gates: Thus hath the LORD said: Execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor and do not deceive, neither steal from the stranger nor from the fatherless nor from the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

If he begets a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that does the like of any one of these things, and that does not do any of those duties, but, on the other hand, he does eat upon the mountains, or defiles his neighbour's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, or lifts up his eyes to the idols, or makes an abomination,read more.
gives forth upon usury and takes increase, shall he then live? He shall not live; he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Thus hath the LORD said: For three transgressions of Israel and for the fourth, I will not convert her because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes, desiring that there be dust of the earth upon the head of the poor, and to twist the way of the humble: and the man and his father have gone in unto the same maid, profaning my holy name:

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

For if a man with a gold ring and in precious apparel comes into your synagogue and a poor person in vile raiment also comes in, and ye have respect to him that wears the precious clothing and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then judging in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts?

At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year and shalt lay it up within thy gates. And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.

but the seventh year thou shalt leave it free and release it, that the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy oliveyard.

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not completely reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen grapes of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger. I AM your God.

That which grows of its own accord in thy land that was harvested, thou shalt not reap; neither fence in the grapes of thy consecrated vine; for it is a year of rest unto the land. But the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy slave and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee

He that gives unto the poor lends unto the LORD, and he will give him his reward.

Do right concerning the poor and fatherless; do justice to the poor and destitute. Deliver the poor and destitute; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

When the ears that heard me, called me blessed; and when the eyes that saw me, gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless who had no one to help him. The blessing of the one that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.read more.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me as a robe; and my diadem was judgment. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy; and the cause which I did not know I searched out. And I broke the fangs of the wicked and caused their teeth to release the prey.

He answered and said unto them, He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has food, let him do likewise.

Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas; this woman was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did.

Keep thyself that there not be a thought of Belial in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother to give him nothing; for he shall cry unto the LORD against thee, and it shall be a sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give unto him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand to. For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy, in thy land.

And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.

And Boaz said unto her at mealtime, Come here and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and he gave her of the pottage, and she ate and was satisfied, and some was left over.

Pe He has dispersed; he has given to the poor; Tzaddi his righteousness endures for ever; Koph his horn shall be exalted in glory.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Then Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, who gave many alms to the people and prayed to God always.

Each one according as they purpose in their heart, so let them give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They already have their reward.

Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have mercy on the multitude because they persevere with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I desire not to send them away fasting lest they faint in the way.

In those days, as before, there was a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat; Jesus called his disciples unto him and said unto them, I have mercy on the multitude because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat; And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for some of them came from afar.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are broken, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

And all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and property and distributed them to everyone, as each one had need.

And of the multitude of those that had believed was one heart and one soul; no one said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. And with great power the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were soldread more.
and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto each one according to their need.

Then the disciples, each one according to what he had, determined to send relief unto the brethren who dwelt in Judea, which they likewise did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

I have showed you in all things how that so labouring, ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation and offerings.

But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it has pleased those of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are in Jerusalem. It has pleased them verily, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they should also minister unto them in carnal things.

For I mean not that others be eased and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack.

Only they asked that we should remember the poor; the same which I was also diligent to do.

Blessed is he that understands regarding the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.

He that gives unto the poor shall never lack, but he that hides his eyes from the poor shall have many a curse.

Jesus said unto him, If thou desire to be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.

Then shall the King say unto those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave me food; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because ye are of the Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

Do not forget to do good and to fellowship; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.

Thou hast seen it, for thou dost behold mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand: the poor commits himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

The LORD preserves the strangers; he raises up the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

Do not remove the old landmark, and do not enter into the inheritance of the fatherless:

to turn aside the poor from right judgment and to take away the right from the afflicted of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless!

And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy manslave and thy maidslave and the Levite that is within thy gates and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God has chosen to place his name there.

Then Boaz replied, The day that thou dost receive the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must also receive Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried unto Elisha, saying, Thy slave, my husband, is dead; and thou knowest that thy slave feared the LORD; and the creditor is come to take my two sons to be his slaves.

Thou hast sent the widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

And I will come near unto 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 stranger from his right, and do not fear me, said the LORD of the hosts.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, that their widows were neglected in the daily ministry.

Honour widows that are widows indeed.

The pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep thyself unspotted from this world.