41 Bible Verses about Orphans

Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!

for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

So the sovereign master was not pleased with their young men, he took no pity on their orphans and widows; for the whole nation was godless and did wicked things, every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

O Lord, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace. Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows.

May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!

who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.

You have taken notice, for you always see one who inflicts pain and suffering. The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; you deliver the fatherless.

He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows. God rules from his holy palace.

The Lord protects those residing outside their native land; he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, but he opposes the wicked.

Leave your orphans behind and I will keep them alive. Your widows too can depend on me."

Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!"

You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.'

You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow's garment as security for a loan.

When you finish tithing all your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. Then you shall say before the Lord your God, "I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.

The Lord says, "Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land.

Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do.

At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages. Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.

Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

O Lord, they crush your people; they oppress the nation that belongs to you. They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land, and they murder the fatherless.

Yes, you would gamble for the fatherless, and auction off your friend.

you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed.

They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as a pledge.

If I ate my morsel of bread myself, and did not share any of it with orphans --

Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.

That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor.

They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you.

Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

"You must not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict them in any way and they cry to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless.

Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or take over the fields of the fatherless, for their Protector is strong; he will plead their case against you.

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations, to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?read more.
You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

"I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the immigrant and in this way show they do not fear me," says the Lord who rules over all.

You shall rejoice before him -- you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you -- in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.

"I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you.

to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.

This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive.

Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, the son Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, "Our father died in the wilderness, although he was not part of the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons.read more.
Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father." So Moses brought their case before the Lord.