'Poor' in the Bible

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes,“For it is you who have devoured the vineyard [with your oppression, you have robbed the people and ruined the country];The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

“What do you mean by crushing My peopleAnd grinding the face of the poor?”Declares the Lord God of hosts.

Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep;

So as to deprive the needy of justiceAnd rob the poor of My people of rightful claims,So that widows may be their spoilAnd that they may plunder the fatherless.

Cry aloud with your voice [in consternation], O Daughter of Gallim!Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!

But with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor,And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth;And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

“The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows],And the needy will lie down in safety;But I will kill your root with famine,And your survivors will be put to death.

“Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation?That the Lord has founded Zion,And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it.”

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,A stronghold for the poor in his distress,A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat;For the breath of tyrantsIs like a rainstorm against a wall.

“The foot will trample it,Even the feet of the suffering, and the steps of the helpless.”

The afflicted also will increase their joy in the Lord,And the needy of mankind will rejoice and celebrate in the Holy One of Israel.

As for the rogue, his weapons are evil;He conceives wicked plansTo ruin the poor with lies,Even when the plea of the needy one is just and right.

“The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none;Their tongues are parched with thirst.I, the Lord, will answer them Myself;I, the God of Israel, will not neglect them.

“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungryAnd bring the homeless poor into the house;When you see the naked, that you cover him,And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,Because the Lord has anointed and commissioned meTo bring good news to the humble and afflicted;He has sent me to bind up [the wounds of] the brokenhearted,To proclaim release [from confinement and condemnation] to the [physical and spiritual] captivesAnd freedom to prisoners,