55 Bible Verses about Poverty, Causes Of

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the grass of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is desirable to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided into four heads. The name of the first is Pison; that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;read more.
and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon; this is the same that compasses the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; this is that which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore, thou shalt serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in lack of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he has destroyed thee.

He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches and who gives to the rich shall surely come to want.

For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of the hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water,

I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places: yet ye have not returned unto me, said the LORD.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travels and thy want as an armed man.

He that deals with a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

In all labour there is fruit, but to talk and not do, brings poverty.

Do not love sleep lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travels and thy want as an armed man.

He that loves pleasure shall be a poor man; he that loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

For by means of a whorish woman a man is reduced to a piece of bread, and the woman will hunt the precious soul of the man.

He that tills his land shall be filled with bread, but he that follows after vain persons shall be filled with poverty.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses chastening: but he that regards reproof shall be honoured.

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but of every one that is too hasty, only to want.

Be not thou one of them that strike hands or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should they take away thy bed from under thee?

Therefore is the kingdom of the heavens likened unto a man who is king who would take account of his slaves. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him who owed him ten thousand talents. But he not having wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, to make payment.

There are those who scatter, and more is added unto them; and there are those who withhold more than is just, but come to poverty.

He that hastens to be rich has an evil eye and does not consider that poverty shall come upon him.

I have showed you in all things how that so labouring, ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Ye look for much and find little; and when ye lock it up at home, I shall blow upon it. Why? said the LORD of the hosts. Because my house is deserted, and ye run each one of you unto his own house.

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the sons of Israel cried unto the LORD.

Because he oppressed and forsook the poor; because he has violently taken away houses which he did not build,

In the fallow ground of the poor there is much bread, but it is lost for lack of judgment.

Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped your fields (which you have kept back by fraud) cries out; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of the hosts.

And there I will nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast perish of poverty.

Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for each one of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine prevailed over them; so the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn; and a messenger came unto Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away; they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell thee.read more.
While he was yet speaking, another came who said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, another came and said, The Chaldeans made three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away and have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there another came and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn; and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

For the LORD thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks, of waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olives, of oil, and honey; a land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou may dig brass.

Teth O fear the LORD, ye his saints; for those that fear him lack nothing. Jod The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those that seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Nun I have been young and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried unto Elisha, saying, Thy slave, my husband, is dead; and thou knowest that thy slave feared the LORD; and the creditor is come to take my two sons to be his slaves.

and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores

For it has pleased those of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are in Jerusalem.

And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the weakness of the poor is their poverty.

Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord takes the stewardship away from me; I cannot dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

They drink and forget their need and remember their misery no more.

Men do not take a thief lightly, even if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my judgment: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and blaspheme the name of my God.

It was good for me that I have been humbled, that I might learn thy statutes.

for they all did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God, but she out of her poverty has cast in all the living that she had.

how that in a great trial of tribulation the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world that they might be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those that love him?

I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be enriched.

Jesus said unto him, If thou desire to be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that word, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that in yourselves ye have a better substance in the heavens, and that abides.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profits me nothing.

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.