58 Bible Verses about Oppression, Nature Of

"Because of [the] oppression of [the] afflicted, because of [the] groaning of [the] poor, now I will rise up," Yahweh says. "I shall put [them] in [the] safety [for which] they long."

In arrogance [the] wicked persecutes [the] poor. Let them be caught in [the] schemes that they devised,

The weak you [have] not strengthened, and the sick you [have] not healed, and {with respect to} the hurt you have not bound [them up], and you [have] not brought back the scattered, and you [have] not sought the lost, but [rather] you ruled over them with force and with ruthlessness.

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate; For Yahweh will plead their case and despoil those who despoil them of life.

" 'You will not pervert the justice of your poor in his legal dispute.

If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}.

The rich will rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave of {the lender}.

[For] he who gives to the poor, there is no lacking, but [for] he who turns his eyes, [there are] many curses.

They severely oppress the people of the land, and {they committed robbery}, and they mistreated [the] needy and [the] poor, and they oppressed the alien {without} justice.

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals! Those who trample the heads of the powerless into the dust of the ground and turn aside the way of the destitute, a man and his father {have sexual relations with} the same girl, so that [they] profane my holy name.

Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions [are] many and your sins [are] numerous, [you] foes of [the] righteous, those who take a bribe, and {those who} push aside [the] poor [ones] in the gate!

Hear this, those who trample on [the] poor and who annihilate the afflicted of [the] land,

You must not oppress [the] widow, [the] orphan, [the] foreigner, and [the] needy. You must not devise evil in your heart {against one another}.'

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?

" 'You will not afflict any widow or orphan.

You shall not subvert the rights of an alien [or] an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge [the] garment of a widow.

They drive away [the] donkey of orphans; they take [the] widow's ox as a pledge.

if I have raised my hand against an orphan because I saw my supporters at the gate,

They crush your people, O Yahweh; they oppress your inheritance. They kill widow and stranger, and they murder orphans,

Do not remove an ancient boundary marker, and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

Your princes [are] rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend [the] orphan and [the] legal dispute of [the] widow does not come before them.

you do not oppress [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods {to your harm},

"Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear {falsely}, and against the oppressors of [the] hired worker [with his] wages, [the] widow and [the] orphan, and {the abusers of} [the] alien, and [yet] do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

who devour the houses of widows and pray lengthy [prayers] for the sake of appearance. These will receive more severe condemnation!"

" 'You will not mistreat an alien, and you will not oppress him, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

And he said to Abram, "{You must surely know} that your descendants shall be [as] aliens in a land {not their own}. And they shall serve them and they shall oppress them four hundred years.

And you will not oppress an alien; you yourselves know the feelings of the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

" 'And when an alien dwells with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The alien who is dwelling with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him like yourself, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I [am] Yahweh your God.

"You shall not abhor an Edomite, because he [is] your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian because you were an alien in his land.

They kill widow and stranger, and they murder orphans,

Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

"You shall not exploit a hired worker, [who is] needy and poor, from among your fellow men or from [among] your aliens who are in your land [and] in your {towns}. On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not go {down}, because [he is] poor and {his life depends on it}; [do this] so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, {and you incur guilt}.

And Abram said to Sarai, "Look, your servant [is] {under your authority}. Do to her that which [is] good in your eyes." And Sarai mistreated her, and she fled from her presence.

And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses.

And now, look, the cry of distress of the {Israelites} has come to me, and also I see the oppression [with] which [the] Egyptians [are] oppressing them.

" 'You shall not exploit your neighbor, and you shall not rob [him]; a hired worker's wage you shall not {withhold} overnight until morning.

'Why do we fast, and you do not see [it]? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice [it]?' Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers!

And [when he] saw one of them being unjustly harmed, he defended [him] and {avenged} the one who had been oppressed [by] striking down the Egyptian.

Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

I brought no mangled carcass to you--I bore its loss. From my hand you sought it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

And a new king rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the {Israelites} [are] greater and more numerous than us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, lest they become many, and when war happens, they also will join our enemies and will fight against us and go up from the land."read more.
And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses. And as he oppressed them, so they became many, and so they spread out, and [the Egyptians] were afraid because of the presence of the {Israelites}. And the Egyptians ruthlessly compelled the {Israelites} to work. And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them. And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives--of whom the name of the one [was] Shiphrah and the name of the second [was] Puah-- and he said, "When you help the Hebrews give birth, you will look upon the pairs of testicles; if he [is] a son, you will put him to death, and if she [is] a daughter, she will live." But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had said to them. They let the boys live. And the king of Egypt summoned the midwives, and he said to them, "Why have you done this thing and let the boys live?" And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew [women are] not like the Egyptian women, because they [are] vigorous; before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth." And God did the midwives good, and the [Israelite] people became many and were very numerous. {And so} because the midwives feared God, he gave them {families}. And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you will throw into the Nile, and every daughter you will let live."

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "My people went down [to] Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him {without cause}.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses [are] full of fraud. {Therefore} they have become great, and they have become rich. They have grown fat, they have grown sleek, also, {their evil deeds have no limit}. They do not judge [with] justice, [the] legal cause of [the] orphan, or allow it to succeed, and [the] legal case of [the] poor, they do not defend.

Or else he will drink and forget what has been decreed, and he will pervert the rights of all the {afflicted}.

to guide [the] needy away from legal claims, and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans.

"But there is nothing [in] your eyes and your heart {except} your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion."

Hear this word, [you] cows of Bashan who [live] on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the powerless, who crush the poor, who say to their husbands, "Bring [something] so that we may drink!"

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, lest they become many, and when war happens, they also will join our enemies and will fight against us and go up from the land."

And he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "I will make your yoke heavy, and I myself will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I [will do so] with scorpions."

Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in {the prison}, for he was enraged with him concerning this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

[Like] a roaring lion and a charging bear [is] a wicked ruler over a poor people.

" 'You will not afflict any widow or orphan. If you indeed afflict him, yes, if he cries out at all to me, I will certainly hear his cry of distress. And {I will become angry}, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans.

'Cursed be the one who deprives [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow of justice.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

He who closes his ear from the cry of the poor, he also will cry out and not be heard.

Yahweh has broken [the] staff of [the] wicked, [the] scepter of rulers, that struck [the] peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing, that ruled [the] nations in anger {with unrestrained persecution}.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This [is] the city that must be punished, its oppression [is] in its midst.

Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place. And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself," {declares} Yahweh, "that this house will become a site of ruins." '"

Thus says Yahweh, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron!