You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.
And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.
and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.
May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.