Lexicon :: Strong's H34 - 'eḇyôn

“You shall not pervert (bend) the justice due to your poor in his dispute.

“If there is a poor man among you, one of your fellow Israelites, in [fn]any of your cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not [fn]be heartless, nor [fn]close-fisted with your poor brother;

“You shall not take advantage of a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether [he is] one of your countrymen or one of the strangers (resident aliens, foreigners) who is in your land inside your cities.

“He raises up the poor from the dust,

He lifts up the needy from the ash heap

To make them sit with nobles,

And inherit a seat of honor and glory;

For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S,

And He set the land on them.

“But God saves [the innocent] from the sword of the mouth of the devious,

And the poor from the hand of the mighty.

“They crowd the needy off the road;

The poor of the land all hide themselves.

“The murderer rises at dawn;

He kills the poor and the needy,

And at night he becomes a thief.

“I was a father to the needy;

I investigated the case I did not know [and assured justice].

“Did I not weep for one whose life was hard and filled with trouble?

Was not my heart grieved for the needy?

If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

Or any poor person without covering,

For the poor will not always be forgotten,

Nor the hope of the burdened perish forever.

“Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,

Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

All my bones will say, “LORD, who is like You,

Who rescues the afflicted from him who is too strong for him [to resist alone],

And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”

The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow

To cast down the afflicted and the needy,

To slaughter those who are upright in conduct [those with personal integrity and godly character].

Even though I am afflicted and needy,

Still the Lord takes thought and is mindful of me.

You are my help and my rescuer.

O my God, do not delay.

Both low and high,

Rich and poor together:

For the LORD hears the needy

And does not despise His who are prisoners.

But I am afflicted and needy;

Come quickly to me, O God!

You are my help and my rescuer;

O LORD, do not delay.

May he bring justice to the poor among the people,

Save the children of the needy

And crush the oppressor,

For he will rescue the needy when he cries for help,

The afflicted and abused also, and him who has no helper.

Let not the oppressed return dishonored;

Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

Rescue the weak and needy;

Rescue them from the hand of the wicked.

A Prayer of David.

Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me,

For I am distressed and needy [I long for Your help].

Yet He sets the needy securely on high, away from affliction,

And makes their families like a flock.

Because the man did not remember to show kindness,

But persecuted the suffering and needy man,

And the brokenhearted, to put them to death.

For I am suffering and needy,

And my heart is wounded within me.

For He will stand at the right hand of the needy,

To save him from those who judge his soul.

He has given freely to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever;

His horn will be exalted in honor.

He raises the poor out of the dust

And lifts the needy from the ash heap,

“I will abundantly bless her provisions;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

I know [with confidence] that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,

And [will secure] justice for the poor.

He who oppresses the poor taunts and insults his Maker,

But he who is kind and merciful and gracious to the needy honors Him.

There is a generation (class of people) whose teeth are like swords

And whose jaw teeth are like knives,

To devour the afflicted from the earth

And the needy from among men.

Open your mouth, judge righteously,

And administer justice for the afflicted and needy.

She opens and extends her hand to the poor,

And she reaches out her filled hands to the needy.

“The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows],

And the needy will lie down in safety;

But I will kill your root with famine,

And your survivors will be put to death.

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,

A stronghold for the poor in his distress,

A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat;

For the breath of tyrants

Is like a rainstorm against a wall.

The afflicted also will increase their joy in the LORD,

And the needy of mankind will rejoice and celebrate in the Holy One of Israel.

As for the rogue, his weapons are evil;

He conceives wicked plans

To ruin the poor with lies,

Even when the plea of the needy one is just and right.

“The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none;

Their tongues are parched with thirst.

I, the LORD, will answer them Myself;

I, the God of Israel, will not neglect them.

“Also on your skirts is found

The lifeblood of the innocent poor;

You did not find them breaking in [a house].

But in spite of all these things [your disobedience, your love of idolatry, your lack of compassion]—

‘They are fat and they are sleek (prosperous),

They [fn]excel in acts of wickedness;

They do not plead the cause,

The cause of the orphan, so that they [the wicked] may prosper,

And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD!

For He has rescued the life of the needy one

From the hand of evildoers.

“He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then all was well.

Is that not what it means to know Me?”

Says the LORD.