Job 24:4

My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor is blessed.

Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.

When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.

Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there is shouting.

He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.

Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.

He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”

Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols;

For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.

Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;

Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

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.’”

For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

“You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.

“ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.

“ ‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing.

The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

In every province, and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen on them.

But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”

You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”

He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

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

Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.

But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.

“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand.

They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.

nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” his wrath was kindled.

So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in.

Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,

I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him who I didn’t know.

Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?

“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.

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

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.

Jesus wept.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.