55 Bible Verses about Poverty, Causes Of

And unto Adam he said, Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant 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 parted, and became four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which encompasses 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: the same is it that encompasses the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris: that is it which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Because you served not the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shall you serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you.

He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to poverty.

For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water.

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

Since therefore you tread upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come upon you like a vagabond, and your want like an armed man.

He becomes poor who has a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come like a robber; and your want like 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 harlot a man is reduced to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after worthless pursuits shall have poverty enough.

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

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction: but he that regards reproof shall be honored.

The thoughts of the diligent lead only to plenty; but of everyone that is hasty, only to want.

Be not one of them that gives pledges, or of them that become surety for debts. If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, who would take account of his servants. And when he had begun the reckoning, one was brought unto him, who owed him ten thousand talents. But since he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

There is one that scatters, and yet increases; and there is one that withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

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

I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you 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.

You looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that is in ruins, and you run every man unto his own house.

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.

Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away a house which he built not;

Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for lack of justice.

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 laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them who have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

And there will I nourish you; for yet there are five years of famine; lest you, and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.

And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man 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 their eldest brother's house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you.read more.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven, and has burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone am escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone am escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I alone am escaped to tell you. Then Job arose, and tore his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, 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 your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, 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 olive oil, and honey; A land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.

O fear the LORD, you his saints: for there is no lack to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

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

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be slaves.

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

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

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

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

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

Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Men do not despise a thief, 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 food needful for me: Lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn your statutes.

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her poverty 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 of her poverty has cast in all the living that she had.

How that in a great trial of affliction 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 rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?

I know your works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich) and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

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

Jesus said unto him, If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

For you had compassion on me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring possession.

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

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