Reference: Poverty
Hastings
POVERTY
1. In the OT.
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And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. read more. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God gives you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is your neighbor's.
You shall not make to be with me gods of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold.
If you lend money to any of my people who is poor among you, you shall not be to him as a lender, neither shall you charge him interest.
You shall not pervert the justice of your poor in his dispute.
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me: for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto you.
And if he is not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he has committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.
But if he is not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. read more. You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And you shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: you shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, mighty, and awesome, who regards not persons, nor takes reward: He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and clothing. read more. Love you therefore the stranger: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he has no part nor inheritance with you.
And the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds,
At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:
At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates: And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, you shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. And if your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. read more. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty: You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress: of that with which the LORD your God has blessed you you shall give unto him. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today.
And the judges shall make diligent inquiry: and, behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother;
You shall not charge interest to your brother; interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest: Unto a stranger you may lend for interest; but unto your brother you shall not lend for interest: that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you set your hand to in the land where you go to possess it.
When you do lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring out the pledge unto you. read more. And if the man be poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge: In any case you shall deliver him the pledge again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own clothing, and bless you: and it shall be righteousness unto you before the LORD your God. You shall not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brethren, or of your strangers that are in your land within your gates: Each day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it: lest he cry against you unto the LORD, and it be sin unto you.
Each day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it: lest he cry against you unto the LORD, and it be sin unto you. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. read more. You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger, nor the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as pledge: But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there: therefore I command you to do this thing. When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled; Then you shall say before the LORD your God, I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed your commandments, neither have I forgotten them: read more. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I taken away any of it for any unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you have given us, as you swore unto our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey.
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds: read more. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own food, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he refused to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD lives, the man that has done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
Then spoke Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. read more. And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray you, all the great things that Elisha has done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were those that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore let us get grain for them, that we may eat, and live. read more. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain, because of the famine.
Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain, because of the famine. There were also those that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tax, and that upon our lands and vineyards. read more. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
And I will turn my hand upon you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy:
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may dwell alone in the midst of the earth!
Woe unto him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uses his neighbor's service without wages, and gives him nothing for his work;
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plumbline in the hand of Zerubbabel; these seven are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.
For it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are at Jerusalem.
Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was eager to do.