Unsympathetic or cruel behaviour. It is contrary to God's character and is condemned in Scripture. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
Like one who removes a garment on a cold day or vinegar poured on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'Hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
If you encounter your enemy's stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
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.
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.'
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.
If you come across a bird's nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.
"You hypocrites!" the Lord replied. "Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
And He asked them, "Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?"
For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But the people there refused to welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.
But Nahash the Ammonite replied, "I will make a treaty with you on one condition, that I may put out everyone's right eye and bring reproach upon all Israel."
Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for his guest."
And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others." When I heard their outcry and these complaints, I became extremely angry,
Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow's ox in pledge. They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children. They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked. Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold. Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter. The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one. They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.
For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.
You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.
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.
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, "Go in peace; stay warm and well fed," but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead." Naomi continued, "The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers. "
Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
I will make known the LORD's loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us— the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.
Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."
Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you to repentance?
Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.