44 Bible Verses about oppression

Come now, you rich people, weep [and] cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you! Your wealth has rotted, and your clothing has become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and it will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. read more.
Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived self-indulgently on the earth and have lived luxuriously. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

These twenty years [I have been] in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

They severely oppress the people of the land, and {they committed robbery}, and they mistreated [the] needy and [the] poor, and they oppressed the alien {without} justice.

And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them.

Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun. {I saw the tears of the oppressed-- no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful-- no one can comfort them}!

" 'You will not mistreat an alien, and you will not oppress him, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

And you will not oppress an alien; you yourselves know the feelings of the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

"You shall not exploit a hired worker, [who is] needy and poor, from among your fellow men or from [among] your aliens who are in your land [and] in your {towns}.

And you must not oppress {one another}, but you shall revere your God, because I [am] Yahweh, your God.

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate;

"Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear {falsely}, and against the oppressors of [the] hired worker [with his] wages, [the] widow and [the] orphan, and {the abusers of} [the] alien, and [yet] do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

Hear this word, [you] cows of Bashan who [live] on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the powerless, who crush the poor, who say to their husbands, "Bring [something] so that we may drink!"

"But there is nothing [in] your eyes and your heart {except} your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion."

Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.

They covet fields and seize [them], and houses, and they take [them] away. They oppress a man and his house; a man and his inheritance.

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "My people went down [to] Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him {without cause}.

And now, look, the cry of distress of the {Israelites} has come to me, and also I see the oppression [with] which [the] Egyptians [are] oppressing them.

And we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.

So {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies from all sides. They were unable to withstand their enemies any longer.

He who oppresses the poor [in order] to enrich himself, [or] gives to the rich, {will come to poverty}.

He who oppresses the poor insults him who made him, but he who has mercy on the poor honors him.

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, "Therefore my disquieting thoughts bring me back {for the sake of} my inward excitement. I hear discipline that insults me, and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me. read more.
"Did you know this from of old, since the setting of [the] human being on earth, that [the] rejoicing of [the] wicked [is] {short}, and the joy of [the] godless {lasts only a moment}? Even though his stature mounts up to the heaven, and his head reaches to the clouds, he will perish forever like his dung; [those who] have seen him will say, 'Where [is] he?' He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of [the] night. [The] eye [that] saw him {will not see him again}, and his place will no longer behold him. His children will seek favors from [the] poor, and his hands will return his wealth. His bones were full of his vigor, but it will lie down with him on [the] dust. "Though wickedness tastes sweet in his mouth, [and] he hides it under his tongue, [though] he spares it and does not let it go [and] holds it back in the midst of his palate, in his bowels his food is turned, [the] venom of horned vipers [is] {within him}. He swallows riches, but he vomits them [up]; God drives them out from his stomach. He will suck [the] poison of horned vipers; [the] viper's tongue will kill him. {He will not enjoy the streams}, [the] torrents of honey and curds. Returning [the] products of [his] toil, he will not swallow; according to the profit of his trade, {he will not enjoy}, for he has oppressed; he has abandoned [the] poor; he has seized a house but did not build it.

A man [who is] poor and oppresses the impoverished [is] a beating rain {that leaves} no food.

Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

Redeem me from [the] oppression of humankind, that I may heed your precepts.

from [the] {presence} of [the] wicked who destroy me, [those] enemies against my life, [they that] surround me.

Why do you hide your face? [Have] you forgotten our misery and our oppression?

I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors.

But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me!" Can a woman forget her suckling, [refrain] from having compassion on the child of her womb? Indeed, these may forget, but I, I will not forget you! Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of [my] hands; your walls [are] continually before me. read more.
Your children hasten; your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from you. Lift your eyes up all around and see; all of them gather; they come to you. {As surely as I live}, {declares} Yahweh, surely you shall put on all of them like [an] ornament, and you shall bind them on like bride. Surely your sites of ruins and desolate [places] and land of ruins, surely now you will be {too cramped for your} inhabitants, and those who engulfed you will be far away. Yet the children {born when you were bereaved} will say in your {hearing}, "The place is [too] cramped for me; {make room} for me so that I can dwell." Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these?" And, "I [was] bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; {where have these come from}?" Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will lift my hand up to [the] nations, and I will raise my signal to [the] peoples, and they shall bring your sons in [their] bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on [their] shoulders. And kings shall be your {guardians}, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, {faces} [to the] ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I [am] Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed. Can war-booty be taken from [the] mighty? or can a captive of a righteous [person] be rescued? But thus says Yahweh: "Indeed a captive of [the] mighty shall be taken, and [the] war-booty [of] [the] tyrant shall be rescued, for I myself will dispute [with] your opponent, and I myself will save your children. And I will feed your oppressors their [own] flesh, and they shall be drunk [with] their blood as [with] wine. Then all flesh shall know that I [am] Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong [one] of Jacob."

{Therefore} all [those who] devour you will be devoured, and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity, and [those who] plunder you will be as plunder, and all [those who] plunder you I will make as plunder. For I will present healing to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Because they have called you an outcast, [saying], "It is Zion, there is no [one who] cares for her." ' Thus says Yahweh: 'Look, I [will] restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and [the] city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and [the] citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site. read more.
And thanksgiving and [the] sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few. And I will make them honored, and they will not be lowly. And their children will be as of old, and their community will be established {before me}. And I will punish all their oppressors.

He who walks [in] righteousness and speaks uprightness, who rejects [the] gain of extortion, who {refuses} bribe, who stops up his ears from hearing {bloodshed} and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. That one will live [on the] heights; [the] fortresses of rocks [will be] his refuge. His food [will] be given; his waters [will] endure.

And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness, and on the mountains he [does] not eat and he [does] not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he [does] not defile and he [does] not approach a woman of menstruation, and he oppresses {no one} [and] he returns pledge for his loan {and he commits no robbery} [and] he gives his bread to [the] hungry and he covers a naked person [with] a garment, read more.
[and] {he does not charge interest} and he takes no usury, [and] he holds back his hand from injustice [and] he executes judgment of fairness between {persons}, [and] in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps, {performing faithfully} --[then] he is righteous, [and] certainly he will live," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Their redeemer [is] strong, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts. Surely he will plead their case, in order to make peace [for] the earth, but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

From oppression and from violence he will redeem their lives, and their blood will be precious in his eyes.

"Because of [the] oppression of [the] afflicted, because of [the] groaning of [the] poor, now I will rise up," Yahweh says. "I shall put [them] in [the] safety [for which] they long."

May he provide justice [for the] poor of [the] people, save [the] children of [the] needy, and crush [the] oppressor.

Blessed [is the one] whose help [is] the God of Jacob, whose hope [is] on Yahweh [as] his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that [is] in them, the one who keeps faith forever, [who] executes justice for the oppressed, [who] gives food for the hungry. Yahweh sets prisoners free;

Yahweh does deeds of justice and judgments for all [who] are oppressed,

And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of distress.

Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? For he went up like shoot before him, and like root from dry ground. He had no form and no majesty that we should see him, and no appearance that we should take pleasure in him. [He was] despised and rejected [by] men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with sickness, and like {one from whom others hide their faces}, [he was] despised, and we did not hold him in high regard. read more.
However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses, and he carried our pain, yet we ourselves assumed him stricken, struck down [by] God and afflicted. But he [was] pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace [was] upon him, and by his wounds {we were healed}. All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahweh let fall on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought like lamb to [the] slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. He was taken by restraint of justice, and who concerned himself with his generation? For he was cut off from the land of [the] living; he [received a] blow because of the transgression of my people. He made his grave with [the] wicked, and with [the] rich in his death, although he had done no violence, and [there was] no deceit in his mouth. Yet Yahweh was pleased to crush him; he {made him sick}. If she places his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring. He will prolong days, and the will of Yahweh will succeed in his hand. From the trouble of his life he will see; he will be satisfied. In his knowledge, [the] righteous [one], my servant, shall declare many righteous, and he is the one who will bear their iniquities.

For your husband [is] your maker, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts; and your redeemer [is] the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the earth. For Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and hurt of spirit, like [the] wife of childhood when she is rejected, says your God. I abandoned you {for a short} moment, but I will gather you with great compassion. read more.
I hid my face from you [for] a moment, in the flowing of anger, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh. "For this [is like] the waters of Noah to me, when I swore {that the waters of Noah would never again pass} over the earth, so I swore {that I would not be} angry at you and rebuke you. For the mountains may depart, and the hills may sway, but my faithfulness shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not sway," says Yahweh, who has compassion on you, "O afflicted [one], driven away, [who] is not consoled. Look! I [am] about to set your stones in hard mortar, and I will lay your foundation with sapphires. And I will {make} your battlements of ruby, and your gates of stones of beryl, and all your wall of precious stones. And all your children [shall be] pupils of Yahweh, and the peace of your children [shall be] great. In righteousness you shall be established. Be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, [but] those who hate unjust gain will have long days.

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, lest they become many, and when war happens, they also will join our enemies and will fight against us and go up from the land." And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses. And as he oppressed them, so they became many, and so they spread out, and [the Egyptians] were afraid because of the presence of the {Israelites}. read more.
And the Egyptians ruthlessly compelled the {Israelites} to work. And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them. And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives--of whom the name of the one [was] Shiphrah and the name of the second [was] Puah-- and he said, "When you help the Hebrews give birth, you will look upon the pairs of testicles; if he [is] a son, you will put him to death, and if she [is] a daughter, she will live." But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had said to them. They let the boys live. And the king of Egypt summoned the midwives, and he said to them, "Why have you done this thing and let the boys live?" And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew [women are] not like the Egyptian women, because they [are] vigorous; before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth." And God did the midwives good, and the [Israelite] people became many and were very numerous. {And so} because the midwives feared God, he gave them {families}. And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you will throw into the Nile, and every daughter you will let live."

He spoke to them according to the advice of the youngsters, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add onto your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions."

And Abram said to Sarai, "Look, your servant [is] {under your authority}. Do to her that which [is] good in your eyes." And Sarai mistreated her, and she fled from her presence.

And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of distress.

and the nation {that} they will serve as slaves, I will judge,' God said, 'and after these [things] they will come out and will worship me in this place.'

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?