Lamentations 3:36

Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

House of David, Yahweh says, ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and plunder, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people,” says the Lord Yahweh.

You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

The arrogant will not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.

Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

You have seen it, Yahweh. Don’t keep silent. Lord, don’t be far from me.

You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.

“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.

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.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.

The thing which he did was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and he killed him also.

Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I didn’t give her to Shelah, my son.” He knew her again no more.

No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

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

“If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor,

“ ‘You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, and defile yourself with her.

“ ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “ ‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

“ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.

They said, “Has Yahweh indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us?” And Yahweh heard it.

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

You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge;

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

Yahweh was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”

and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon.

However Yahweh would not destroy David’s house, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always.

For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it.

Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

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

There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can’t live with you.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.

But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path.

Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.

Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God.

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

For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

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

They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

The way of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.

Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”

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.

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!

“Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness—

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.

Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for I delight in these things,” says Yahweh.

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

“Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: “This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.”

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;

The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.

Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

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.

When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.”

Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”

But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,

As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, “Go your way for this time, and when it is convenient for me, I will summon you.”

As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.