55 Bible Verses about Poverty, Causes Of

To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, 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 toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 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 Pishon; this is the one which goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;read more.
and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone. The name of the second river is Gihon; it goes around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; this is the one which flows east of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Perath.

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom 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 on your neck, until he has destroyed you.

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

For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;

"I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven't returned to me," says the LORD.

Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; so your poverty will come as a robber, and your want as an armed man.

He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.

The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty.

Do not be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts. If you do not have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But because he could not pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.

A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn't know that poverty waits for him.

In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

"You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to the LORD.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

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

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.

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

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's. As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.

It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."read more.
While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still 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 on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you." Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came 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 springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees 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.

Oh fear the LORD, you his holy ones, for there is no lack with those who fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

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

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."

A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was placed at his gate, full of sores,

For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.

And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

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

"The manager said within himself, 'What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I do not have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.

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

Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me; lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the LORD?' or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.

for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."

for all these put in gifts from their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on."

how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.

Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

"I know your afflictions and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a 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 become rich.

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions.

For you both had compassion on them that were in chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an enduring one.

If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

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