44 Bible Verses about oppression

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. read more.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.

These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared the LORD. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves."

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

"You shall not wrong a foreigner, neither shall you oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

"You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the heart of a foreigner, seeing you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates:

You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am the LORD your God.

Do not exploit the poor, because he is poor; and do not crush the needy in court;

I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and do not fear me," says the LORD of hosts.

Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, "Bring us drinks."

"But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it."

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

For thus says the LORD, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

and we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression;

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of marauders who plundered them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me. I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me. read more.
Do you not know this from old time, since man was placed on earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?' He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him. His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth. His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust. "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth; yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him. He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly. He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him. He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter. That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security."

Redeem me from the oppression of man, so I will observe your precepts.

from the wicked who oppress me, my deadly enemies, who surround me.

Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?

AYIN. I have done what is just and righteous. Do not leave me to my oppressors.

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. read more.
Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live," says the LORD, "you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride. "For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away. The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'" Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed." Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? But thus says the LORD, "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," says the LORD; "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.'" Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own way. read more.
Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.

He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil? he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.

"But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity, and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; read more.
he who has not given forth on interest, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live," says the Lord GOD.

Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.

"Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in safety from those who malign him."

He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.

Blessed is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.

The LORD executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.

The LORD will also be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

LORD, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and familiar with illness; and as one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not value him. read more.
Surely he has borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains; yet we considered him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he did not open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he did not open his mouth. He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him and make him ill. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my servant, the righteous one, make many righteous, and he will bear their iniquities.

For your husband is your Creator; the LORD of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off," says your God. "For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. read more.
In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you," says the LORD your Redeemer. "For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD who has mercy on you. "You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by God; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not be afraid; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel. read more.
The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve. The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, and he said, "When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." But the midwives feared God, and did not do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them." God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. It happened, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."

and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes." Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

The LORD will also be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.'

But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?