44 Bible Verses about oppression

Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is rusted; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as if it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days. read more.
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. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Thus have I been twenty years in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks: and you have changed my wages ten times.

The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have oppressed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor.

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.

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.

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

You shall neither wrong a stranger, nor oppress him: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Also you shall not oppress a stranger: for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

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

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

Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:

And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

But your eyes and your heart are for nothing but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

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 they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

For thus says the Lord GOD, My people went down at first into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression:

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of plunderers that plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

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

He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker: but he that honors him has mercy on the poor.

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. I have heard the rebuke of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. read more.
Know you not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches unto the clouds; Yet he shall perish forever like his own refuse: they who have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Yet his food in his body is soured, it is the gall of asps within him. He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. He shall not see the rivers, the brooks flowing with honey and butter. That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: from the proceeds of business he shall not rejoice. Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away a house which he built not;

A poor man that oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: my eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep your precepts.

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

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

[Ayin] I have done what is right and just: leave me not to my oppressors.

But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. read more.
Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth from you. Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: 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 bind them on you, as a bride does. For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed you up shall be far away. The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me: give a place to me that I may dwell. Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten for me these, since I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and moving to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive 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 that contends with you, and I will save your children. And I will feed them that 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 they that devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and they that plunder you shall be plunder, and all that prey upon you will I make a prey. For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after. Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall stand in its proper place. read more.
And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that 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 that oppress them.

He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that keeps his hands from the holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the fortresses of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, And has not eaten upon 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 a woman during her impurity, And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has robbed none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; read more.
He that has not lent money for interest, neither has taken any increase, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, Has walked in my statutes, and has kept my judgments faithfully; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that sneers at him.

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

Happy is he that 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 therein: who keeps truth forever: Who executes justice for the oppressed: who gives food to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners:

The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all that are oppressed.

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

Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no stately form nor splendor; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. read more.
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God. For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. read more.
In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the LORD your Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the LORD that has mercy on you. O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I will make your pinnacles of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your walls of precious stones. And all your children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you.

The prince that lacks understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hates covetousness shall prolong his days.

Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there come upon us any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so escape out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. read more.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor. And 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 serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then you shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and are delivered before the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

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

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.

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

And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judges?