Reference: Beg
Easton
That the poor existed among the Hebrews we have abundant evidence (Ex 23:11; De 15:11), but there is no mention of beggars properly so called in the Old Testament. The poor were provided for by the law of Moses (Le 19:10; De 12:12; 14:29). It is predicted of the seed of the wicked that they shall be beggars (Ps 37:25; 109:10).
In the New Testament we find not seldom mention made of beggars (Mr 10:46; Lu 16:20-21; Ac 3:2), yet there is no mention of such a class as vagrant beggars, so numerous in the East. "Beggarly," in Ga 4:9, means worthless.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; 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 olive-yard.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
And the Levite, (because he hath 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 hand which thou doest.
For the poor shall never cease from the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand wide to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat by the highway-side begging.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.
But now, after ye have known God, or rather are known by God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which ye desire again to be in bondage?