Reference: Poor
American
Ps 12:5; 41:1-3, especially cared for in the Jewish dispensation, Ex 23:6; Pr 14:31, and even more so under the gospel, Mt 25:42-45; Jas 2:5. The slight offerings required of them by the law were as acceptable as the hecatombs of the rich, Le 5:7-13; Mr 12:41-44. The gleanings of the fields, the olive-trees, and the vines, were to be left for them, Le 19:9; De 24:19; Ru 2:2. Every seventh year, the spontaneous products of the ground were free to all, Le 25:7; and in the Jubilee their alienated inheritance returned to their possession. Compare also Le 25; De 24. Neglect and oppression of the poor were severely reproved by the prophets, Isa 10:2; Jer 5:28; Am 2:6; but charity to the poor was an eminent virtue among primitive Christians, Mt 6:2-4; Lu 10:33-35; 19:8; Ac 9:36-39; 10:2; 11:29-30.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"You are not to pervert justice for the poor among you in their lawsuits.
"If he can't afford a goat, then he is to bring to the LORD for his sin offering two turtledoves or two young doves: one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. He is to bring them to the priest, who will offer a sin offering first. He is to wring off its head without separating it. read more. Then he is to sprinkle some of the blood from the sin offering on the sidewall of the altar. Now as to the remainder of the blood, he is to pour it out at the base of the altar for a sin offering. With respect to the second offering, he is to prepare it as a burnt offering, according to the approved procedure. The priest is to make atonement for him on account of his sin that he had committed. Then it will be forgiven him. "If he can't afford two turtledoves or two young doves, then he is to bring as his offering a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering for what he has committed. He is to put no olive oil or frankincense on it, since it's a sin offering. He is to bring it to the priest. The priest is to take a handful as a memorial and burn it on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD. It's a sin offering. The priest will make atonement for him, on account of the sin that he had committed in any of these things and it will be forgiven him. As far as the priest is concerned, it will be a meal offering."
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to completely finish harvesting the corners of the field that is, you are not to pick what remains after you have reaped your harvest.
The cattle and the wild animals in your land everything it produces are for your food.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
Ruth the Moabite told Naomi, "Please allow me to go out to the fields and glean grain behind anyone who shows me kindness." So Naomi replied, "Go ahead, my daughter."
"Because the poor are being oppressed, because the needy are sighing, I will now arise," says the LORD, "I will establish in safety those who yearn for it."
Blessed is the one who is considerate of the destitute; the LORD will deliver him when the times are evil. The LORD will protect him and keep him alive; he will be blessed in the land; and he will not be handed over to the desires of his enemies. read more. The LORD will uphold him even on his sickbed; you will transform his bed of illness into health.
Whoever oppresses the poor defies their Creator, but whoever is kind to the needy honors them.
to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!
and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don't argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don't defend the rights of the poor.
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Israel and now for a fourth I will not turn away; because they sold the righteous for money, and the poor for sandals,
So whenever you give to the poor, don't blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward! But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, read more. so that your giving may be done in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Here's why: I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn't welcome me. I was naked, and you didn't clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me.' read more. "Then they will reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or as a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn't help you?' Then he will say to them, "I tell all of you with certainty, since you didn't do it for one of the least important of these, you didn't do it for me.'
As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts. Then a destitute widow came and dropped in two small copper coins, worth about a cent. read more. He called his disciples and told them, "I tell all of you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than everyone who is contributing to the offering box, because all of them contributed out of their surplus, but out of her poverty she has given everything she had to live on."
But as he was traveling along, a Samaritan came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. read more. The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take good care of him. If you spend more than that, I'll repay you when I come back.'
Later, Zacchaeus stood up and announced to the Lord, "Look! I'm giving half of my possessions to the destitute, and if I have accused anyone falsely, I'm repaying four times as much as I owe."
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was known for her good actions and acts of charity that she was always doing. At that time, she got sick and died. After they had washed her, they laid her in an upstairs room. read more. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him and begged him, "Come here quickly!" So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him upstairs. All the widows gathered around Peter, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.
So all of the disciples decided they would send a contribution to the brothers living in Judea, as they were able, by sending it through Barnabas and Saul to the elders.
Listen, my dear brothers! God has chosen the poor in the world to become rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who keep on loving him, has he not?
Easton
The Mosaic legislation regarding the poor is specially important. (1.) They had the right of gleaning the fields (Le 19:9-10; De 24:19,21).
(2.) In the sabbatical year they were to have their share of the produce of the fields and the vineyards (Ex 23:11; Le 25:6).
(3.) In the year of jubilee they recovered their property (Le 25:25-30).
(4.) Usury was forbidden, and the pledged raiment was to be returned before the sun went down (Ex 22:25-27; De 24:10-13). The rich were to be generous to the poor (De 15:7-11).
(5.) In the sabbatical and jubilee years the bond-servant was to go free (De 15:12-15; Le 25:39-42,47-54).
(6.) Certain portions from the tithes were assigned to the poor (De 14:28-29; 26:12-13).
(7.) They shared in the feasts (De 16:11,14; Ne 8:10).
(8.) Wages were to be paid at the close of each day (Le 19:13).
In the New Testament (Lu 3:11; 14:13; Ac 6:1; Ga 2:10; Jas 2:15-16) we have similar injunctions given with reference to the poor. Begging was not common under the Old Testament, while it was so in the New Testament times (Lu 16:20-21, etc.). But begging in the case of those who are able to work is forbidden, and all such are enjoined to "work with their own hands" as a Christian duty (1Th 4:11; 2Th 3:7-13; Eph 4:28). This word is used figuratively in Mt 5:3; Lu 6:20; 2Co 8:9; Re 3:17.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you loan money to my people, to the poor among you, don't be like a creditor to them and don't impose interest on them. If you take your neighbor's coat as collateral, you are to return it to him by sunset, read more. for it's his only covering; it's his outer garment, for what else can he sleep in? And when he cries out to me, I'll hear him, for I am gracious.
but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to completely finish harvesting the corners of the field that is, you are not to pick what remains after you have reaped your harvest. You are not to gather your vineyard or pick up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. Leave something for the poor and the resident alien who lives among you. I am the LORD your God."
"You are not to oppress your neighbor or rob him. "The wages of a hired laborer are not to remain in your possession until morning.
You may take the Sabbath produce of the land for your food you, your male and maid servants, your hired laborers, and the resident alien with you.
"If your brother becomes so poor that he has to a sell portion of his inheritance, then his nearest kinsman redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a person doesn't have a kinsman redeemer, but has become rich and found sufficient means for his redemption, read more. then let him account for the years for which it was sold, return the excess to the person to whom it was sold, and then return to his property. If he's not able to redeem it back for himself, then what he sold is to remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee, it is to be returned so he may return to his property. "If a person sells a residential house in a walled city, he is to redeem it within the year in which it was sold. He may have right to its redemption for a full year. But if it's not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house next to which is a wall is to belong in perpetuity to the one who bought it throughout his generations. It is not to be returned in the jubilee.
"If your brother with you becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, you are not to make him serve like a bond slave. Instead, he is to serve with you like a hired servant or a traveler who lives with you, until the year of jubilee. read more. Then he and his children with him may leave to return to his family and his ancestor's inheritance. Since they're my servants whom I've brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
"If a resident alien or traveler becomes rich, but your relative who lives next to him is so poor that he sells himself to that resident alien or traveler among you or to a member of the resident alien's family, he has the right to be redeemed after he sells himself. One of his brothers may redeem him. read more. His uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him or any blood relative from his tribe may redeem him. If he becomes rich, then he may redeem himself. "He is to bring an accounting to the one who bought him, starting from the year he had sold himself until the year of jubilee. The price of his sale is to correspond to the number of years comparable to the time a hired servant stays with him. If there are still many years left, he is to refund the cost of his redemption. But if only a few years are left until the year of jubilee, he is to bring an accounting of the years that he is to refund for his redemption. Like a hired servant, he is to remain with him year after year, but he is not to rule over him with what you see as severity. If he isn't redeemed by these, then he is to be set free in the year of jubilee he and his children with him
Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."
"If there should be a poor man among your relatives in one of the cities of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your poor relative. Instead, be sure to open your hand to him and lend him enough to lessen his need. read more. Be careful not to think this wicked thought to yourselves: "The seventh year, the year of remission, is drawing near,' and you show ill will toward your poor relative and not give to him. He may then call to the LORD on account of you, and you will be guilty of sin. You must certainly give to him and not feel regret for doing so. Because of this, the LORD your God will bless all your works and everything you do. Since poor people won't cease to exist in the land, therefore I'm commanding you: Be sure to be generous to your poor and needy relatives in your land." "When a fellow Hebrew male or female slave is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set them free. But when you set them free, don't send them away empty-handed. Provide for them liberally from your flock, threshing floor, and wine vat. As the LORD your God has blessed you, so give to them. Don't ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I'm giving you these commands today.
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
"When you loan something to your neighbor, don't enter his house to seize what he offered as collateral. Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it out to you. read more. If he is a poor man, don't go to sleep with his collateral in your possession. Be sure to return his garment to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the LORD your God.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't go back a second time. What remains are for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities. Then declare in the presence of the LORD your God:
He also told them, "Go eat the best food, drink the best wine, and give something to those who have nothing, since this day is holy to our Lord. Don't be sorrowful, because the joy of the LORD is your strength."
"How blessed are those who are destitute in spirit, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!
He answered them, "The person who has two coats must share with the one who doesn't have any, and the person who has food must do the same."
Then Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "How blessed are you who are destitute, because the kingdom of God is yours!
Instead, when you give a banquet, make it your habit to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
A beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, was brought to his gate. He was always trying to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.
The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.
Also, make it your goal to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you,
Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily food and one of you tells them, "Go in peace! Stay warm and eat heartily." If you do not provide for their bodily needs, what good does it do?
You say, "I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don't need anything." Yet you don't realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
Fausets
The considerate provisions of the law for the poor (based on principles already recognized by the patriarchs: Job 20:19; 24:3-4,9-10; especially Job 29:11-16; 31:17) were:
(1) The right of gleaning; the corners of the field were not to be reaped, nor all the grapes to be gathered, nor the olive trees to be beaten a second time; the stranger, fatherless, and widow might gather the leavings; the forgotten sheaf was to be left for them (Le 19:9-10; De 24:19,21; Ru 2:2).
(2) They were to have their share of the produce in sabbatical years (Ex 23:11; Le 25:6).
(3) They recovered their land, but not town houses, in the Jubilee year (Le 25:25-30).
(4) Usury, i.e. interest on loans to an Israelite, was forbidden; the pledged raiment was to be returned before sundown (Ex 22:25-27; De 24:10-13); generous lending, even at the approach of Jubilee release, is enjoined: (De 15:7-11) "thou shalt open thy hand wide to THY poor"; God designs that we should appropriate them as our own, whereas men say "the poor."
(5) Lasting bondservice was forbidden, and manumission, with a liberal present, enjoined in the sabbatical and Jubilee years (De 15:12-15; Le 25:39-42,47-54); the children were not enslaved; an Israelite might redeem an Israelite who was in bondage to a rich foreign settler.
(6) Portions from the tithes belonged to the poor after the Levites (De 14:28-29; 26:12-13).
(7) The poor shared in the feasts at the festivals of weeks and tabernacles (De 16:11,14; Ne 8:10).
(8) Wages must be paid at the day's end (Le 19:13); yet partiality in judgment must not be shown to the poor (Ex 23:3; Le 19:15).
In the New Testament, Christ lays down the same love to the poor (Lu 3:11; 14:13; Ac 6:1; Ga 2:10; Jas 2:15; Ro 15:26), the motive being "Christ, who was rich, for our sake became poor that we through His poverty might be rich" (2Co 8:9). Begging was common in New Testament times, not under Old Testament (Lu 16:20-21; 18:35; Mr 10:46; Joh 9:8; Ac 3:2.) Mendicancy in the ease of the able bodied is discouraged, and honest labour for one's living is encouraged by precept and example (1Th 4:11; Eph 4:28; 2Th 3:7-12).
The prophets especially vindicate the claims of the poor: compare Eze 18:12,16-17; 22:29; Jer 22:13,16; 5:28; Isa 10:2; Am 2:7, "pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor," i.e., thirst after prostrating the poor by oppression, so as to lay their heads in the dust; or less simply (Pusey) "grudge to the poor debtor the dust which as a mourner he strewed on his head" (2Sa 1:2; Job 2:12). In De 15:4 the creditor must not exact a debt in the year of release, "save when there shall be no poor among you," but as De 15:11 says "the poor shalt never cease out of the land," translated "no poor with thee," i.e. release the debt for the year except when no poor person is concerned, which may happen, "for the Lord shall greatly bless thee": you may call in a loan on the year of release, when the borrower is not poor. Others regard the promise, De 15:11, conditional, Israel's disobedience frustrating its fulfillment. Less costly sacrifices might be substituted by the poor (Le 5:7,11).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you loan money to my people, to the poor among you, don't be like a creditor to them and don't impose interest on them. If you take your neighbor's coat as collateral, you are to return it to him by sunset, read more. for it's his only covering; it's his outer garment, for what else can he sleep in? And when he cries out to me, I'll hear him, for I am gracious.
but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
"If he can't afford a goat, then he is to bring to the LORD for his sin offering two turtledoves or two young doves: one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
"If he can't afford two turtledoves or two young doves, then he is to bring as his offering a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering for what he has committed. He is to put no olive oil or frankincense on it, since it's a sin offering.
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to completely finish harvesting the corners of the field that is, you are not to pick what remains after you have reaped your harvest. You are not to gather your vineyard or pick up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. Leave something for the poor and the resident alien who lives among you. I am the LORD your God."
"You are not to oppress your neighbor or rob him. "The wages of a hired laborer are not to remain in your possession until morning.
"You are not to be unjust in deciding a case. You are not to show partiality to the poor or honor the great. Instead, decide the case of your neighbor with righteousness."
You may take the Sabbath produce of the land for your food you, your male and maid servants, your hired laborers, and the resident alien with you.
"If your brother becomes so poor that he has to a sell portion of his inheritance, then his nearest kinsman redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a person doesn't have a kinsman redeemer, but has become rich and found sufficient means for his redemption, read more. then let him account for the years for which it was sold, return the excess to the person to whom it was sold, and then return to his property. If he's not able to redeem it back for himself, then what he sold is to remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee, it is to be returned so he may return to his property. "If a person sells a residential house in a walled city, he is to redeem it within the year in which it was sold. He may have right to its redemption for a full year. But if it's not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house next to which is a wall is to belong in perpetuity to the one who bought it throughout his generations. It is not to be returned in the jubilee.
"If your brother with you becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, you are not to make him serve like a bond slave. Instead, he is to serve with you like a hired servant or a traveler who lives with you, until the year of jubilee. read more. Then he and his children with him may leave to return to his family and his ancestor's inheritance. Since they're my servants whom I've brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
"If a resident alien or traveler becomes rich, but your relative who lives next to him is so poor that he sells himself to that resident alien or traveler among you or to a member of the resident alien's family, he has the right to be redeemed after he sells himself. One of his brothers may redeem him. read more. His uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him or any blood relative from his tribe may redeem him. If he becomes rich, then he may redeem himself. "He is to bring an accounting to the one who bought him, starting from the year he had sold himself until the year of jubilee. The price of his sale is to correspond to the number of years comparable to the time a hired servant stays with him. If there are still many years left, he is to refund the cost of his redemption. But if only a few years are left until the year of jubilee, he is to bring an accounting of the years that he is to refund for his redemption. Like a hired servant, he is to remain with him year after year, but he is not to rule over him with what you see as severity. If he isn't redeemed by these, then he is to be set free in the year of jubilee he and his children with him
Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."
Moreover, there will be no poor person among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that he is about to give you to possess.
"If there should be a poor man among your relatives in one of the cities of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your poor relative. Instead, be sure to open your hand to him and lend him enough to lessen his need. read more. Be careful not to think this wicked thought to yourselves: "The seventh year, the year of remission, is drawing near,' and you show ill will toward your poor relative and not give to him. He may then call to the LORD on account of you, and you will be guilty of sin. You must certainly give to him and not feel regret for doing so. Because of this, the LORD your God will bless all your works and everything you do. Since poor people won't cease to exist in the land, therefore I'm commanding you: Be sure to be generous to your poor and needy relatives in your land."
Since poor people won't cease to exist in the land, therefore I'm commanding you: Be sure to be generous to your poor and needy relatives in your land."
Since poor people won't cease to exist in the land, therefore I'm commanding you: Be sure to be generous to your poor and needy relatives in your land." "When a fellow Hebrew male or female slave is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set them free. read more. But when you set them free, don't send them away empty-handed. Provide for them liberally from your flock, threshing floor, and wine vat. As the LORD your God has blessed you, so give to them. Don't ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I'm giving you these commands today.
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
"When you loan something to your neighbor, don't enter his house to seize what he offered as collateral. Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it out to you. read more. If he is a poor man, don't go to sleep with his collateral in your possession. Be sure to return his garment to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the LORD your God.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't go back a second time. What remains are for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities. Then declare in the presence of the LORD your God:
Ruth the Moabite told Naomi, "Please allow me to go out to the fields and glean grain behind anyone who shows me kindness." So Naomi replied, "Go ahead, my daughter."
The next day, a man escaped from Saul's camp! With torn clothes and dirty hair, he approached David, fell to the ground, and bowed down to him.
He also told them, "Go eat the best food, drink the best wine, and give something to those who have nothing, since this day is holy to our Lord. Don't be sorrowful, because the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Observing him from a distance, at first they didn't even recognize him, so they raised their voices and burst into tears. They each ripped their robes, threw ashes into the air on their heads,
because he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he didn't build.
They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the ox of the widow as security for a loan; They push the needy off the road, and force the poor of the land into hiding.
"The fatherless are torn from the breast; the poor are taken away as security for a loan. They wander around naked, without clothes; hungry, though they carry sheaves of grain.
"When people heard me speak, they blessed me; when people saw me, they approved me, because I delivered the poor who were crying for help, along with orphans who had no one to help them. read more. Those who were about to die blessed me, and I made widows sing for joy. I put on righteousness like clothing; my just decisions were like a robe and a turban. I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. I was a father to the needy; I diligently inquired into the case of those I didn't know.
if I ate my meals by myself without feeding orphans,
to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!
and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don't argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don't defend the rights of the poor.
"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage.
He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me?
oppresses the afflicted and the poor, robs others, doesn't return security for a debt, looks to idols, does detestable things,
doesn't oppress anyone, doesn't take possession of a debtor's pledge, or doesn't steal, but instead shares his food with the hungry, gives clothes to those who are naked, doesn't refuse to help the afflicted, or refuses to loan with usury or exact interest, but instead follows my ordinances and lives his life consistent with my statutes. He won't die because of his father's sin, will he? No! He'll certainly live.
The people of the land were vigorously oppressive and took possession of plunder by violence. They've afflicted the poor and the needy and unjustly treated the foreigner.
moving quickly to rub the face of the needy in the dirt. Corrupting the ways of the humble, a man and his father go to the same woman, deliberately defiling my holy name.
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus) was sitting by the road.
He answered them, "The person who has two coats must share with the one who doesn't have any, and the person who has food must do the same."
Instead, when you give a banquet, make it your habit to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
A beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, was brought to his gate. He was always trying to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.
As Jesus was approaching Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road begging.
Then the neighbors and those who had previously seen him as a beggar said, "This is the man who used to sit and beg, isn't it?"
Now a man who had been crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day people would lay him at what was called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from those who were going into the Temple.
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
because the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have been eager to share their resources with the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.
The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.
The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might earn something to give to the needy.
Also, make it your goal to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you,
Hastings
Morish
It was said in the O.T. that "the poor should never cease out of the land," and in the enactments of the law they were cared for by Jehovah. The Lord said, "Ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good." Mr 14:7. "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Ps 41:1. "The poor have the gospel preached unto them." Mt 11:5. "When thou makest a feast call the poor." Lu 14:13. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord." Pr 19:17. Other passages show that the working of the love of God in the soul issues in a special regard for the poor. Ga 2:10. Of the Lord Jesus it is said, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. 2Co 8:9.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Blessed is the one who is considerate of the destitute; the LORD will deliver him when the times are evil.
Whoever is kind to the poor is lending to the LORD the benefit of his gift will return to him in abundance.
the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the destitute hear the good news.
because you'll always have the destitute with you and can help them whenever you want, but you won't always have me.
Instead, when you give a banquet, make it your habit to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.
The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.
Smith
Poor.
The general kindly spirit of the law toward the poor is sufficiently shown by such passages as
De 15:7
for the reason that (ver. 11) "the poor shall never cease out of the land." Among the special enactments in their favor the following must be mentioned:
1. The right of gleaning.
Le 19:9-10; De 24:19,21
2. From the produce of the land in sabbatical years the poor and the stranger were to have their portion.
3. Re-entry upon land in the jubilee year, with the limitation as to town homes.
4. Prohibition of usury and of retention of pledges.
Ex 22:25-27; 5/3/type/isv'>Le 25:3,5,37
etc.
5. Permanent bondage forbidden, and manumission of Hebrew bondmen or bondwomen enjoined in the sabbatical and jubilee years.
Le 25:39-42,47-54; De 15:12-15
6. Portions from the tithes to be shared by the poor after the Levites.
De 14:28; 26:12-13
7. The poor to partake in entertainments at the feasts of Weeks and Tabernacles.
De 16:11,14
see Nehe 8:10
8. Daily payment of wages.
Principles similar to those laid down by Moses are inculcated in the New Testament, as
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you loan money to my people, to the poor among you, don't be like a creditor to them and don't impose interest on them. If you take your neighbor's coat as collateral, you are to return it to him by sunset, read more. for it's his only covering; it's his outer garment, for what else can he sleep in? And when he cries out to me, I'll hear him, for I am gracious.
but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to completely finish harvesting the corners of the field that is, you are not to pick what remains after you have reaped your harvest. You are not to gather your vineyard or pick up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. Leave something for the poor and the resident alien who lives among you. I am the LORD your God."
"You are not to oppress your neighbor or rob him. "The wages of a hired laborer are not to remain in your possession until morning.
For six years you may plant your fields, and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce.
You are not to gather what grows from the spilled kernels of your crops. You are not to pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. Let it be a year of Sabbath for the land.
"If your brother becomes so poor that he has to a sell portion of his inheritance, then his nearest kinsman redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a person doesn't have a kinsman redeemer, but has become rich and found sufficient means for his redemption, read more. then let him account for the years for which it was sold, return the excess to the person to whom it was sold, and then return to his property. If he's not able to redeem it back for himself, then what he sold is to remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee, it is to be returned so he may return to his property. "If a person sells a residential house in a walled city, he is to redeem it within the year in which it was sold. He may have right to its redemption for a full year. But if it's not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house next to which is a wall is to belong in perpetuity to the one who bought it throughout his generations. It is not to be returned in the jubilee.
You are not to loan him money with interest or sell him your food at a profit.
"If your brother with you becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, you are not to make him serve like a bond slave. Instead, he is to serve with you like a hired servant or a traveler who lives with you, until the year of jubilee. read more. Then he and his children with him may leave to return to his family and his ancestor's inheritance. Since they're my servants whom I've brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
"If a resident alien or traveler becomes rich, but your relative who lives next to him is so poor that he sells himself to that resident alien or traveler among you or to a member of the resident alien's family, he has the right to be redeemed after he sells himself. One of his brothers may redeem him. read more. His uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him or any blood relative from his tribe may redeem him. If he becomes rich, then he may redeem himself. "He is to bring an accounting to the one who bought him, starting from the year he had sold himself until the year of jubilee. The price of his sale is to correspond to the number of years comparable to the time a hired servant stays with him. If there are still many years left, he is to refund the cost of his redemption. But if only a few years are left until the year of jubilee, he is to bring an accounting of the years that he is to refund for his redemption. Like a hired servant, he is to remain with him year after year, but he is not to rule over him with what you see as severity. If he isn't redeemed by these, then he is to be set free in the year of jubilee he and his children with him
Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities
"If there should be a poor man among your relatives in one of the cities of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your poor relative.
"When a fellow Hebrew male or female slave is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set them free. But when you set them free, don't send them away empty-handed. read more. Provide for them liberally from your flock, threshing floor, and wine vat. As the LORD your God has blessed you, so give to them. Don't ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I'm giving you these commands today.
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't go back a second time. What remains are for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities. Then declare in the presence of the LORD your God:
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.