55 Bible Verses about Poverty, Causes Of

He said to Adam: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. You will eat your food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground. You came from the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.

Jehovah God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden. From there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first river is the Pishon. It winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.read more.
The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris. It runs along the east side of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

You did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. You will serve your enemies whom Jehovah will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

He who gets ahead by oppressing the poor and giving to the rich will certainly suffer loss.

Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty (Ruler) (Sovereign) is going to take all support and supply of food and water from Jerusalem and Judah.

I also gave you cleanness of teeth (kept food from your teeth) in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you have not returned to me, said Jehovah.

You impose unfair rent on the poor and defraud a tribute of grain from them. You haave built houses of hewn stone yet you will not live in them. You planted pleasant vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Your poverty comes like a traveler. Your need comes like an armed man.

He becomes poor who deals with a lazy hand. The hand of the diligent makes rich.

In all labor there is profit: but idle chatter leads only to destitution.

Do not love sleep or you will come to poverty. Open your eyes and be satisfied with bread.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. Your poverty will come like a robber and your want like an armed man.

He that loves pleasure will be poor. He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

A prostitute will cost you your last crust of bread. An adulteress will cost you your life.

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread. He who follows after vain persons will have poverty.

He spent everything! When a famine spread over that country he was left with nothing.

Poverty and shame come to all who reject discipline. He who accepts reproof will be honored.

The ideas of the diligent tend only to abundance. But of the one who is hasty it leads to poverty.

Do not give pledges and be guarantors for debts. If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who went over his accounts with his servants. First, one came to him who owed him ten thousand talents. He was not able to make payment. So his lord gave orders for him to be sold. His wife, sons, and daughters were all to be sold along with every possession. The money would be used for payment of what he owed.

There is one who scatters, and yet increases. There is one who withholds what is due and it leads to poverty.

He who hurries to be rich has an evil eye. He does not think poverty will come to him.

In all things I gave you an example. You by laboring should help the weak. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

You looked for much harvest and you received little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Said Jehovah of Hosts. Because my house lies in waste, while each of you run to his house.

Israel was helpless against them.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build.

Abundant foods is in the fallow ground of the poor. There is waste because of a lack of justice.

Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners destroy your fields in your presence. Your fields are devastated and taken over by strangers.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts.

I will provide for you in Egypt. For there will be five more years of famine. Then you, your family, and all who belong to you will not lose all that you have.'

Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian was forced to sell his land, because the famine was so severe. All the land became the king's property. He [Joseph] removed the people into the cities from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.

One day when Job's children were having a feast at the home of their oldest brother, a messenger came running to Job. We were plowing the fields with the cattle, he said, and the donkeys were in a nearby pasture. Suddenly the Sabeans attacked and stole them all. They killed every one of your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.read more.
Before he finished speaking, another servant came and said: Lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and killed them all. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. Before he finished speaking, another servant came and said: Three bands of Chaldean raiders attacked us. They took away the camels and killed all your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. No sooner had he finished speaking, then another servant came and said: Your children were having a feast at the home of your oldest son, when a storm swept in from the desert. It blew the house down and killed them all. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. Then Job got up and tore his clothes in grief. He shaved his head and threw himself face down on the ground. He said: I was born with nothing (naked), and I will die with nothing. Jehovah gave, and now he has taken away. Blessed be the name of Jehovah!

Jehovah your God will lead you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that do not dry up. Springs and underground streams flow through the valleys and the hills. The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore. You will be able to mine copper ore in the mountains.

Respect Jehovah, you holy people who belong to him. Those who reverence him are never in need. Young lions go hungry and may starve, but those who seek Jehovah's help have all the good things they need.

I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen a righteous person abandoned or his descendants begging for food.

The widow of a member of a group of prophets said to Elisha: My husband has died! As you know, he was a man who respected God. A man to whom he owed money came to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt.

A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, used to be brought to the rich man's door.

It pleased those of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor holy ones in Jerusalem.

Jesus replied: Foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

The rich man's wealth is his strength. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

The servant thought: 'I am fired from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough for heavy work and I am ashamed to beg.

Let him drink and forget his poverty. Let him remember his misery no more.

Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.

Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food necessary for me. If I am full I could deny you and say, Who is Jehovah? Or if I am poor and steal, I could take God's name in vain.

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.

They all gave out of their surplus. She gave out of her poverty. She gave all that she owned, all her living.

They all gave out of their surplus but she gave out of her poverty. She gave all that she had for living expenses.

Out of severe affliction they have an abundance of joy and their deep poverty abounds in the riches of their generosity.

Listen, my dearly beloved brothers! Did God choose poor people in the world to be rich in faith and to receive the kingdom he promised to those who love him?

I know your troubles. I know that you are poor, but you are rich! I know the evil things said against you by those who claim to be Jews but are not. Their synagogue belongs to Satan!

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

Jesus then replied: If you wish to be complete, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. You will have wealth in heaven. Then follow me! But hearing these words, the young man went away grieving, for he was very wealthy.

You shared the sufferings of prisoners. When all your belongings were seized, you endured your loss gladly. This is because you knew that you possessed something much better, which would last forever.

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Also as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.