60 Bible Verses about Oppression, God's Attitude To
Most Relevant Verses
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.
Don’t rob a poor man because he is poor,
and don’t crush the oppressed at the gate,
for the Lord will take up their case
and will plunder those who plunder them.
Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever.
The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling seizes the ungodly:
“Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?”
The one who lives righteously
and speaks rightly,
who refuses gain from extortion,
whose hand never takes a bribe,
who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots
and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil—
Woe to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws
to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice,
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.
What will you do on the day of punishment
when devastation comes from far away?
Who will you run to for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
The one who mocks the poor insults his Maker,
and one who rejoices over calamity
will not go unpunished.
Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,
this iniquity of yours will be
like a spreading breach,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!
Father and mother are treated with contempt, and the foreign resident is exploited within you. The fatherless and widow are oppressed in you.
The Lord says:
I will not relent from punishing Israel
for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver
and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.
Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil plans on their beds!
At morning light they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.
They covet fields and seize them;
they also take houses.
They deprive a man of his home,
a person of his inheritance. Therefore, the Lord says:
I am now planning a disaster
against this nation;
you cannot free your necks from it.
Then you will not walk so proudly
because it will be an evil time.
“But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass justice and love for God. These things you should have done without neglecting the others.
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the garbage pile.
He seats them with noblemen
and gives them a throne of honor.
For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
He has set the world on them.
executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.
The Lord frees prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.
The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord protects foreigners
and helps the fatherless and the widow,
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their hearts.
You will listen carefully,
doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that men of the earth may terrify them no more.
“Because of the oppression of the afflicted
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place.”
God in His holy dwelling is
a father of the fatherless
and a champion of widows.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;
they refuse to release them.
Their Redeemer is strong;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
He will fervently plead their case
so that He might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
He saves the needy from their sharp words
and from the clutches of the powerful.
Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Israelites’ cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
My very bones will say,
“Lord, who is like You,
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor or the needy from one who robs him?”
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He rescued them from their distress.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
When the Lord gives you rest from your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do, you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:
How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine.
Then all flesh will know
that I, Yahweh, am your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
I have observed the oppression of My people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to rescue them. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.
Rise up, Lord God! Lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted.
Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them 20 years.
The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed, so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”
and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart
in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,
and when they pray in the direction of their land
that You gave their ancestors,
and the city You have chosen,
and toward the temple I have built for Your name,
may You hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,
Your dwelling place,
and uphold their cause.
May You forgive Your people
who sinned against You.
I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy’s oppression?”
For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.” A Davidic Miktam. When he fled before Saul into the cave.Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me,
for I take refuge in You.
I will seek refuge in the shadow of Your wings
until danger passes.
Let the groans of the prisoners reach You;
according to Your great power,
preserve those condemned to die.
Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”
Lord, God of vengeance—
God of vengeance, appear.
Rise up, Judge of the earth;
repay the proud what they deserve.
Lord, how long will the wicked—
how long will the wicked gloat?read more.
They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
Lord, they crush Your people;
they afflict Your heritage.
They kill the widow and the foreigner
and murder the fatherless.
They say, “The Lord doesn’t see it.
The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”
They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the One who is holy and true, how long until You judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?”
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
BOOK II
(Psalms 42–72)For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, God.
I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God?”
If I walk into the thick of danger,
You will preserve my life
from the anger of my enemies.
You will extend Your hand;
Your right hand will save me.
For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
But as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything:
by great endurance, by afflictions,
by hardship, by difficulties,
by beatings, by imprisonments,
by riots, by labors,
by sleepless nights, by times of hunger,
So those who suffer according to God’s will should, while doing what is good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.
You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am Yahweh your God.
“When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean what is left. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Speak up for those who have no voice,
for the justice of all who are dispossessed.
Speak up, judge righteously,
and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.
At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,
and if you offer yourself to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.
“The Lord of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.
But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’ read more.
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’