58 Bible Verses about Oppression, Nature Of

"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."

While the ungodly hath the overhand, the poor must suffer persecution; let them be taken in the crafty wiliness that they have imagined!

The weak have ye not holden up, the sick have ye not healed: the broken have ye not bound together, the outcasts have ye not brought again. The lost have ye not sought, but churlishly and cruelly have ye ruled them.

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.

Thou shalt not hinder the right of the poor that are among you in their suit.

When one of thy brethren among you is waxed poor in any of thy cities within thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, see that thou harden not thine heart nor shut to thine hand from thy poor brother:

The rich ruleth the poor; and the borrower is servant to the lender.

He that giveth unto the poor, shall not want; but he that turneth away his eyes from such as be in necessity, shall suffer great poverty himself.

The people in the land useth wicked extortion and robbery. They vex the poor and needy and oppress the stranger against right.

"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. They tread upon poor men's heads, in the dust of the earth, and crook the ways of the meek. The son and the father go to the harlot, to dishonour my holy name,

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? As for the multitude of your wickednesses and your stout sins, I know them right well. Enemies are ye of the righteous; ye take rewards; ye oppress the poor in judgment.

Hear this, O ye that oppress the poor, and destroy the needy in the lands, saying,

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

But ye have despised the poor. Are not the rich they which oppress you: and they which draw you before judges?

Ye shall trouble no widow nor fatherless child:

Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widow's raiment to pledge.

that drive away the ass of the fatherless; that take the widow's ox for a pledge;

Did I ever lift up my hand to hurt the fatherless; yea, in the gates where I saw myself to be in authority?

They smite down thy people, O LORD, and trouble thine heritage. They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death.

Remove not the old landmark, and come not within the field of the fatherless.

Thy princes are traitors and companions of thieves. They love gifts altogether, and gape for rewards. As for the fatherless, they help him not to his right, neither will they let the widows causes come before them.

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;

I will come and punish you, and I myself will be a swift witness against the witches, against the adulterers, against false swearers: yea, and against those that wrongfully keep back the hireling's duty, which vex the widows and the fatherless, and oppress the stranger, and fear not me, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

and devour widows' houses: and that, under a colour of long praying. These shall receive greater damnation."

Vex not a stranger, neither oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

And he said unto Abram, "Know this of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that pertaineth not unto them. And they shall make bondmen of them and entreat them evil, four hundred years.

Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for I know the heart of a stranger, because ye were strangers in Egypt.

If a stranger sojourn by thee in your land, see that ye vex him not: But let the stranger that dwelleth with you be as one of your selves, and love him as thy self, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother: neither shalt thou abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.

They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death.

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.

Thou shalt not defraud a hired servant that is needy and poor, whether he be of thy brethren or a stranger that is in thy land within thy cities. Give him his hire the same day, and let not the sun go down thereon. For he is needy and therewith sustaineth his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD and it be sin unto thee.

Then said Abram to Sarai, "Behold, thy maid is in thy hand, do with her as it pleaseth thee." And because Sarai fared foul with her, she fled from her.

And he set taskmasters over them, to keep them under with burdens. And they built unto Pharaoh treasure cities: Pithom and Rameses.

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.

Thou shalt not beguile thy neighbour with cavillations, neither rob him violently, neither shall the workman's labour abide with thee until the morning.

They seek of me righteous judgments, and will draw nigh unto God. Why have we fasted and thou hast not looked upon it? Have humbled our souls, and thou wouldest not wit it?

And when he saw one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged his quarrel that had the harm done to him, and smote the Egyptian.

Behold, the hire of the laborers which have reaped down your fields - which hire is of you kept back by fraud - crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

Whatsoever was torn of beasts I brought it not unto thee, but made it good myself: of my hand didst thou require it, whether it was stolen by day or night.

Then there rose up a new king in Egypt which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his folk, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us play wisely with them: lest they multiply, and then - if there chance any war - they join themselves unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them out of the land."read more.
And he set taskmasters over them, to keep them under with burdens. And they built unto Pharaoh treasure cities: Pithom and Rameses. But the more they vexed them, the more they multiplied and grew: so that they abhorred the children of Israel. And the Egyptians held the children of Israel in bondage without mercy, and made their lives bitter unto them with cruel labour in clay and brick, and all manner work in the fields, and in all manner of service, which they caused them to work cruelly. And the king of Egypt said unto the midwives of the Hebrews' women, of which the one's name was Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When ye midwife the women of the Hebrews and see in the birth time that it is a boy, kill it. But if it be a maid, let it live." Notwithstanding, the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them: but saved the men children. Then the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, "Why have ye dealt on this manner and have saved the men children?" And the midwives answered Pharaoh, that the Hebrews' women were not as the women of Egypt: but were sturdy women, and were delivered yer the midwives came at them. And God therefore dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty, and - because the midwives feared God - he made them houses. Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, "All the men children that are born, cast into the river; and save the maid children alive."

For thus hath the LORD said: My people went down aforetime into Egypt, there to be strangers. Afterward did the king of the Assyrians oppress them for naught.

And like as a net is full of birds, so are their houses full of that which they have gotten with falsity and deceit. Hereof cometh their great substance and riches, hereof are they fat and wealthy, and are run away from me with shameful blasphemies. They minister not the law, they make no end of the fatherless cause, they judge not the poor according to equity.

Lest they being drunken forget the law, and regard not the cause of the poor, and of all such as be in adversity.

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.

Nevertheless, as for thine eyes and thine heart, they look upon covetousness, to shed innocent blood, and to do wrong and violence.'"

O hear this word, ye fat cows, that be upon the hill of Samaria; yea, that do poor men wrong, and oppress the needy; yea, that say to your lords, 'Bring hither, let us drink.'

Come on, let us play wisely with them: lest they multiply, and then - if there chance any war - they join themselves unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them out of the land."

and answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, "If my father made your yoke grievous, I will add thereto, and where my father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions."

Whereupon Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in the converting house, for he was displeased with him because of that. Moreover Asa oppressed certain of the people the same season.

Like as a roaring lion and a hungry bear, even so is an ungodly prince over the poor people.

Ye shall trouble no widow nor fatherless child: If ye shall trouble them, they shall cry unto me, and I will surely hear their cry; and then will my wrath wax hot and I will kill you with sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.

"'Cursed be he that hindereth the right of the stranger, fatherless and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

Whoso stoppeth his ear at the crying of the poor; he shall cry himself and not be heard.

Doubtless the LORD hath broken the staff of the ungodly, and the scepter of the lordly. Which when he is wroth, smiteth the people with durable strokes, and in his wonders he persecuteth them, and tameth them continually.

For thus hath the LORD of Hosts commanded: "Hew down her trees, and set up bulwarks against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished, for in her is all maliciousness.

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. And if ye keep these things faithfully, then shall there come in at the door of this house, kings, to sit upon David's seat: they shall be carried in Chariots and ride upon horses, both they and their servants, and their people. But if ye will not be obedient unto these commandments, I swear by mine own self, sayeth the LORD, this house shall be waste.

"Thus sayeth the LORD, 'For three and four wickednesses of Damascus, I will not spare her: because they have threshed Gilead with iron stales.