100 Bible Verses about Oppressing People

Psalm 12:5 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

Proverbs 14:31 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Proverbs 22:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

Luke 12:33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Malachi 3:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Jeremiah 22:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Isaiah 41:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

Proverbs 29:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

Proverbs 28:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.

Proverbs 22:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Psalm 140:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.

Psalm 9:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Leviticus 19:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

Exodus 23:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

1 John 3:17-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

James 5:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

James 2:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

James 1:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Luke 14:12-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Zechariah 7:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Ezekiel 22:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Jeremiah 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

They have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

Isaiah 25:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

Isaiah 1:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Proverbs 21:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

Proverbs 14:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

Psalm 74:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

Psalm 72:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!

Psalm 35:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

All my bones shall say, “O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Psalm 34:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Psalm 9:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Deuteronomy 15:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.

Deuteronomy 15:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

1 John 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

James 5:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ...

James 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 2:2-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

1 Timothy 5:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Honor widows who are truly widows.

Galatians 5:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Acts 24:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

Acts 10:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

Acts 9:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

Acts 4:32-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Acts 2:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 16:19-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Luke 14:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

Luke 7:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

Luke 6:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Luke 6:20-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Luke 4:16-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ...

Luke 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Mark 12:40 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Matthew 25:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...

Matthew 19:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Malachi 3:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. ...

Micah 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Amos 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

Amos 5:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

Amos 4:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

Ezekiel 22:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Jeremiah 22:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

Jeremiah 7:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,

Isaiah 61:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Isaiah 58:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Isaiah 58:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Isaiah 29:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 11:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Isaiah 3:14-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of hosts.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.

Proverbs 31:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 30:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.

Proverbs 28:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.

Proverbs 22:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

Proverbs 17:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 16:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Proverbs 15:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow's boundaries.

Proverbs 13:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

Psalm 146:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Psalm 146:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

Psalm 132:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread.

Psalm 113:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Psalm 112:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.

Psalm 109:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

Psalm 107:41 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.

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