55 Bible Verses about Poverty, Causes Of

And to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou shalt return to the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden: and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison, which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;read more.
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx-stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same that compasseth the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: which floweth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: Therefore shalt thou serve thy enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee.

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the rod and the staff, the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water,

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man.

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thy eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth; and thy want as an armed man.

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

For by means of a lewd woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

And when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain king who would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he had not ability to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

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

Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that is waste, and ye run every man to his own house.

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.

Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

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

And there will I nourish thee, (for yet there are five years of famine,) lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, should come to poverty.

And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yes, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only have escaped alone to tell thee.read more.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God hath fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I only have escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yes, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only have escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only have escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped, And said, Naked came I from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive-oil, and honey; A land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant feared the LORD: and the creditor hath come to take to him my two sons to be bond-men.

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores,

For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who are at Jerusalem.

And Jesus saith to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.

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

Men do not despise a thief, if he stealeth to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

For all they cast in of their abundance: but she of her want cast in all that she had, even all her living.

For all these have of their abundance cast in to the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

That in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded to the riches of their liberality.

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

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

Jesus said to him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the seizing of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

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