44 Bible Verses about oppression

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted. Their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up your treasure in the last days. read more.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts. You lived in luxury on the earth, and take your pleasure; you nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.

I have been in your house twenty years! I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters. I kept your flock for six years. You changed my wages ten times.

The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice.'

They made their lives bitter with backbreaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard work.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts.

The widow of a member of a group of prophets said to Elisha: My husband has died! As you know, he was a man who respected God. A man to whom he owed money came to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt.

I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed for they had no one to comfort them. The oppressors had power but they had no one to comfort them.

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner. Remember that you were foreigners in Egypt.

Do not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner. After all you were foreigners in Egypt.

Do not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.

You must not wrong one another. You shall respect your God. I am Jehovah your God.

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.

I will approach you people for judgment! I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers and those acting fraudulently with the wages of the worker, the widow and the fatherless. I will be a speedy witness against those who swear falsely and take advantage of the stranger, and do not show me reverence, said Jehovah of Hosts.

Hear this word you cows of Bashan who live on the mountain of Samaria. You oppress the poor. You crush the needy. You say to your masters (husbands) (lords), Bring us drink.

Your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain. You are shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts.

They covet fields and seize them. They covet houses and confiscate them! They oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

The Lord Jehovah says: At first my people went down to Egypt to live as aliens. Now Assyria has oppressed them.

My people have begged for my help. I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them.

We cried out to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice. He saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.

The anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel. He delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

He who gets ahead by oppressing the poor and giving to the rich will certainly suffer loss.

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. He who honors his Maker has mercy for the poor.

ZOPHAR THE NAAMATHITE SPEAKS: My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer for I am greatly disturbed. I hear a rebuke that dishonors me. Therefore my understanding inspires me to reply. read more.
Do you not know from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth? The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say: Where is he? He flies away like a dream banished like a vision of the night. He cannot be found! The eye that saw him will not see him again. His place (home) will look on him no more. His children must make amends to the poor. He must give back his wealth. The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. He will spit out the riches he swallowed. God will make his stomach vomit them up. He will suck the poison of serpents. The fangs of an adder (cobra) will kill him. He will not look upon the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. What he toiled for he must give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit from his trading. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build.

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

I cry like a swallow (swift). I mourn like a dove. My eyes are red from looking to you, Jehovah. I am terribly abused. Please come and help me.

Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep your precepts.

Hide me from wicked people who violently attack me, from my deadly enemies who surround me.

Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our suffering and misery?

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

Zion replied: Jehovah has forsaken me and Jehovah has forgotten me! Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers forget, I will not forget you. I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are constantly before me. read more.
Your children will hurry back. Those who destroyed you and laid you waste will leave you. Lift up your eyes and look around for they all gather together and come to you. As I live, declares Jehovah, you will certainly wear them like jewels and bind them on like a bride does. Even if you are destroyed and demolished, and your land is in ruins, you will be too crowed for your people. Those who devoured you will be long gone. The children removed from you will say to you: 'This place is too crowed for me. Make room for me to live here.' You will think in your heart: 'Who brought these children to birth? I am barren (sterile) and bereaved of my children. I am an exiled wonderer. Who gave birth to these? From where did these come?' Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, said Jehovah. I will set up my standard for the peoples. They will bring your sons and your daughters in their bosom and carried on their shoulders. Kings will be your guardians. Their princesses will be your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth. They will lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Jehovah. Those who hopefully wait for me will not be put to shame. Can the prey be taken from the strong man? Can the captives be rescued from the tyrant? Certainly Jehovah says: The captives of the strong man will be taken away. The prey of the tyrant will be rescued. I will contend with the one who grapples with you and I will save your sons. I will feed oppressors with their own flesh. They will be intoxicated with their own blood as if by sweet wine. Everyone will know that I am Jehovah, your Savior and Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

That is why everyone who devours you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be taken away as captives. Those who looted you will be looted. Those who stole from you in war will have things stolen from them. I will restore your health and heal your wounds, proclaims Jehovah. People call you an outcast: 'Zion, no one cares for you.' This is what Jehovah says: I am going to bring the captives back to Jacob's tents and show compassion on their homes. Cities will be built on the ruins, and fortified palaces will be built in their rightful place. read more.
The people who live there will sing songs of praise. The sound of laughter will be heard from there. I will make them numerous, and their number will not decrease. I will bring them honor, and they will not be considered unimportant. Their children will be like they were long ago. Their community will be established in my presence, and I will punish everyone who oppresses them.

He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil. This man will dwell on the heights. His refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and he will have water.

If a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness, and does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period; if a man does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing. read more.
If he does not lend money on interest or take increase, if he keeps his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between man and man, if he lives by my rules and obeys my laws faithfully this person is righteous. He will certainly live,' declares the Lord Jehovah.

Their defender is strong. His name is Jehovah of Hosts. He will certainly take up their cause in order to bring rest to the land of Israel and unrest to the people who live in Babylon.

He will redeem (rescue) them from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.

Because oppressed people are robbed and needy people groan, I will now arise, says Jehovah. I will provide safety for those who long for it.

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

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in Jehovah his God! He made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. He keeps truth (faith) forever! He executes justice for the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. Jehovah sets the prisoners free.

Jehovah works righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.

Jehovah is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble.

THIS IS THE PEOPHESY ABOUT THE MESSIAH. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm (power) of Jehovah been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance will make us desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised. We did not consider him to be worth much. read more.
He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. We considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions! He was crushed for our iniquities! The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. There has been healing for us because of his wounds. We are all like sheep. We have gone astray! Each of us has turned to his own way. Jehovah has caused the iniquity (sin) of all of us to be laid on him. He was oppressed and afflicted and yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was silent like sheep ready to be sheared. He did not open his mouth. He was oppressed, judged and taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? He was removed from the land of the living. He was destroyed because of the transgression of my people. He was buried like a criminal in a rich mans grave. He had done no wrong, nor was any deceit in his mouth. It was Jehovah's will to allow him to be crushed. Even though Jehovah makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah will prosper in his hand. After his suffering he will see the light and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. He will bear their iniquities.

For your Maker is your husband. Jehovah of Hosts is his name! The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth. Jehovah will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit; a wife, who married young, only to be rejected, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. read more.
In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you, says Jehovah your Redeemer. To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah. I have compassion on you. O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. Your sons will all be taught by Jehovah. Your sons will have an abundance of peace. You will be established in righteousness. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed and it will not come near you.

The ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor. He who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

We must outsmart them or they will increase in number. If war breaks out they will leave the country and join our enemies to fight against us. So the Egyptians put slave masters over them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply (storage) cities for Pharaoh. However the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians could not stand them any longer. read more.
They forced the Israelites to work hard as slaves. They made their lives bitter with backbreaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard work. The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives. Shiphrah and Puah were among them. He said: When you help the Hebrew women give birth on the birth stool, if it is a son you shall put him to death. If it is a daughter, then she shall live. The midwives respected God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them. They let the boys live. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said: Why have you let the boys live? The midwives replied to Pharaoh: Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them. God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives respected God, He established households for them. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: Every son who is born must be thrown into the Nile River. However, keep every daughter alive.

He gave them the answer suggested by the young advisors. He said: My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder! My father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.

Your servant is in your hands, Abram said. Do with her whatever you think best. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar. So she ran away from her.

Jehovah is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble.

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

You have dishonored the poor man. Do the rich oppress you, and personally drag you into court?