60 Bible Verses about Oppression, God's Attitude To

Do the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and poor no wrong: and let no man imagine evil against his brother in his heart."

See that thou rob not the poor because he is weak, and oppress not the simple in judgment; for the LORD himself will defend their cause, and do violence unto them that have used violence.

"For if ye will amend your ways and counsels, if ye will judge right betwixt a man and his neighbour; If ye will not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow; if ye will not shed innocent blood in this place; if ye will not cleave to strange gods to your own destruction; then will I let you dwell in this place, yea in the land that I gave afore time unto your fathers forever.

The sinners at Zion are afraid, and a sudden fearfulness is come upon the hypocrites. "What is he among us," say they, "that will dwell by that consuming fire? Which of us may abide that everlasting heat?" He that leadeth a godly life - say I - and speaketh the truth; He that abhorreth to do violence and deceit; he that keepeth his hand that he touch no reward; which stoppeth his ears, that he hear no counsel against the innocent; which holdeth down his eyes, that he see none evil.

He shall keep the simple folk by their right, defend the children of the poor, and punish the wrongdoer.

Woe be unto you that make unrighteous laws, and devise things, which be too hard for to keep: wherethrough the poor are oppressed on every side, and the innocents of my people are therewith robbed of judgment: that widows may be your prey, and that ye may rob the fatherless. What will ye do in time of the visitation and destruction, that shall come from far? To whom will ye run for help? Or to whom will ye give your honour, that he may keep it?

Whoso laugheth the poor to scorn, blasphemeth his maker; and he that is glad of another man's hurt, shall not be unpunished.

Therefore, thus sayeth the holy one of Israel, "Insomuch as ye have cast off your beauty, and comforted yourselves with power and nimbleness, and put your confidence therein: therefore shall ye have this mischief again for your destruction and fall, like as a high wall, that falleth because of some rift or blast, whose breaking cometh suddenly.

In thee have they despised father and mother, in thee have they oppressed the stranger, in thee have they vexed the widow and the fatherless.

"Thus sayeth the LORD, 'For three and four wickednesses of Israel, I will not spare him: because he hath sold the righteous for money, and the poor for shoes.

Forsomuch then as ye oppress the poor, and rob him of his best sustenance: therefore, where as ye have builded houses of square stone, ye shall not dwell in them. Marvelous pleasant vineyards shall ye plant; but the wine of them shall ye not drink. And why?

Woe unto them that imagine to do harm, and devise ungraciousness upon their beds, to perform it in the clear day: for their power is against God. When they covet to have land, they take it by violence; they rob men of their houses. Thus they oppress a man for his house, and every man for his heritage. Therefore thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, against this household have I devised a plague, whereout ye shall not pluck your necks. Ye shall no more go so proudly, for it will be a perilous time.

Woe to that bloodthirsty city, which is all full of lies and robbery, and will not leave off from ravishing.

But woe be to you Pharisees: for ye tithe the mint, and rue, and all manner herbs; and pass over judgment, and the love of God. These ought ye to have done, and yet not to have left the other undone.

The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment, for all them that are oppressed with wrong.

but doeth right unto the fatherless and widow and loveth the stranger, to give him food and raiment.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill: to set them among princes, and to inherit them with the seat of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the round world upon them.

who helpeth them to right that suffer wrong; who feedeth the hungry. The LORD looseth men out of prison; the LORD giveth sight to the blind. The LORD helpeth them up that are fallen; the LORD loveth the righteous. The LORD careth for the strangers; he defendeth the fatherless and widow. As for the way of the ungodly, he turneth it upside down.

The LORD also will be a defense for the oppressed, even a refuge in due time of trouble.

LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the poor; thou preparest their heart, and thine ear hearkeneth thereto, to help the fatherless and the poor unto their right, that the man of the earth be no more exalted against them.

"Now, for the comfortless troubles' sake of the needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor, I will arise," saith the LORD, "and will help them, and set them at rest."

He is a father of the fatherless, he is a defender of widows; even God in his holy habitation.

"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The children of Israel and Judah suffer violence together. All they that have them in captivity, keep them fast and will not let them go. But their avenger and redeemer is mighty, whose name is the LORD of Hosts: he shall maintain their cause, he shall make the land shake, and judge them that dwell therein, one with another.

And so he delivereth the poor from the sword, from the threatenings of the ungodly, and from the hand of the cruel;

Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the trouble of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, which they have of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrow, and am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land unto a good land and a large, and unto a land that floweth with milk and honey: even unto the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and of the Jebusites. Now therefore behold, the complaint of the children of Israel is come unto me and I have also seen the oppression, wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

Then thou shalt say unto thy son, 'We were bondmen unto Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

All my bones shall say, "LORD, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him? Yea, the poor, and him that is in misery, from him that spoileth him?"

So they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

So they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distress.

So when they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, he delivered them out of their distress.

Say not thou, "I will recompense evil"; but put thy trust in the LORD, and he shall defend thee.

When the LORD now shall bring thee to rest; from the travail, fear, and hard bondage that thou wast laden withal. Then shalt thou use this mockage upon the king of Babylon, and say: How happeneth that the oppressor leaveth off? Is the gold tribute come to an end?

And will feed thine enemies with their own flesh, and make them drink of their own blood, as of sweet wine. And all flesh shall know, O Jacob, that I am the LORD - thy Saviour and strong avenger.

I have perfectly seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now, come: and I will send thee into Egypt.'

Arise, O LORD God, and lift up thine hand; forget not the poor.

And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; He oppressed the children of Israel with power twenty years.

Moreover, the children of Ammon went over Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim: so that Israel was sore cumbered. Then the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against thee: for we have forsaken our own God, and have served Baalim."

and turn again to thee, with all their hearts and all their souls, in the land of their captivity where they be kept in bondage, and so pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and city which thou hast chosen, and to his house which I have built for thy name; Then hear from heaven, thy dwelling place, their supplication and prayers and judge their cause, and be merciful unto thy people, though they have sinned against thee.

I will say unto God my strength, "Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I thus heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me?"

{To the Chanter, Destroy Not, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave} Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee: and under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge, until this tyranny be overpast.

O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee; and according unto the power of thy arm, preserve those that are appointed to die.

Defend the poor and fatherless, see that such as be in need and necessity have right. Deliver the outcast and poor, and save them from the hand of the ungodly.

O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself. Arise, thou judge of the world, and reward the proud after their deserving. LORD, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly triumph?read more.
How long shall all wicked doers speak so disdainfully, and make such proud boasting? They smite down thy people, O LORD, and trouble thine heritage. They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death. And yet they say, "Tush, the LORD seeth not, the God of Jacob regardeth it not."

and they cried with a loud voice saying, "How long tarriest thou Lord holy and true, to judge and to avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"

At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and lauded God. And the prisoners heard them.

"For I am sure that my redeemer liveth, and that I shall rise out of the earth in the latter day:

{To the Chanter, a Psalm of David} Like as the hart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they daily say unto me, "Where is now thy God?"

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, yet shalt thou refresh me; thou shalt stretch forth thine hand upon the furiousness of mine enemies, and thy righthand shall save me.

For our exceeding tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepareth an exceeding and eternal weight of glory unto us,

but in all things let us behave ourselves as the ministers of God. In much patience, in afflictions, in necessity, in anguish, in stripes, in prisonment, in strife, in labour, in watching, in fasting,

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls to him with well doing, as unto a faithful creator.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Thou shalt not pluck in all thy vineyard clean, neither gather in the grapes that are overscaped. But thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the LORD your God.

When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand. When thou beatest down thine olive trees thou shalt not make clean riddance after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And when thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather clean after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.

Be thou an advocate and stand in judgment thyself, to speak for all such as be dumb and sucourless. With thy mouth defend the thing that is lawful and right, and the cause of the poor and helpless.

Then shouldest thou call, and the LORD answer; then shouldest thou cry, and he shall say, "Lo, here am I. For I the LORD thy God am merciful." Yea If thou layest away thy burdens, and holdest thy fingers, and ceasest from blasphemous talking; if thou hast compassion upon the hungry, and refreshest the troubled soul: Then shall thy light spring out in the darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noon day.

Thus the LORD commandeth: Keep equity and righteousness, deliver the oppressed from the power of the violent: do not grieve nor oppress the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place.

"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, 'Execute true judgment, and show mercy and loving-kindness, every man to his brother.

But when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, 'Come, ye blessed children of my father, inherit ye the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat. I thirsted, and ye gave me drink. I was harborless, and ye lodged me. I was naked and ye clothed me. I was sick and ye visited me. I was in prison and ye came unto me.'read more.
Then shall the righteous answer him saying, 'Master, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? Or athirst, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee harborless, and lodged thee? Or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison and came unto thee?'