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

Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Your precepts.

He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,

Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague. He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, . . .

The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty. For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men. Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich. They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy. Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. . . .

“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.”

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.

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?

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,

“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”

“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God. You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD. If you follow My statutes and carefully keep My commandments, I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely in your land. . . .

If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

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.’ And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ . . .

“Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed. . . .

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of those who march to and fro, and never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I keep watch with My own eyes.

So we called out to the LORD, the God of our fathers; and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression.

Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

Sing to the LORD, O you His saints, and praise His holy name. For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.

For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?

You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.

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.

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

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.

Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

at the voice of the enemy, at the pressure of the wicked. For they release disaster upon me and revile me in their anger.

We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side. But when a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, he looked at him and had compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. . . .

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

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.

He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.

Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

God rescues the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears in oppression.

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.

We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

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. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.

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.

For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

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? Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. . . .

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease. He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend. The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless. . . .

Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.”

So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. . . .

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”

When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow, He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Of David. Blessed be the LORD, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne who lives forever and ever,

Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! She heeded no voice; she accepted no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she has not drawn near to her God. Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning. Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law. The LORD within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame. . . .

Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden. Now Judas His betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was coming upon Him, stepped forward and asked them, “Whom are you seeking?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. Jesus said, “I am He.” And Judas His betrayer was standing there with them. . . .

For the choirmaster. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.

And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea; with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. . . .

For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.