God is concerned for the victims of oppression; he hears, sustains and delivers them. Christians are to exhibit the same concern. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.'
Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.
For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: "Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?" He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—
May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.
Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder. What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly— in an instant!
Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.
So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD."
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning's light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands. They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. Therefore this is what the LORD says: "I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's, and upon them He has set the world.
He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free, the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear, to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.
"For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will bring safety to him who yearns."
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them. Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful.
The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
then you are to tell him, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
All my bones will exclaim, "Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?"
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
I have indeed seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.'
Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals."
and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.
I say to God my Rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy's oppression?"
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.
May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult? They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast. They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage. They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless. They say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed."
And they cried out in a loud voice, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?"
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God's presence? My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, "Where is your God?"
If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me.
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison.
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities; in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
"This is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
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 something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?'
Now I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
And as you Philippians know, in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church but you partnered with me in the matter of giving and receiving.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains.