100 Bible Verses about Poor

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 486 helpful votes

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Proverbs 14:31 ESV / 394 helpful votes

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 321 helpful votes

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 302 helpful votes

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Proverbs 29:7 ESV / 263 helpful votes

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

Proverbs 21:13 ESV / 229 helpful votes

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV / 227 helpful votes

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Proverbs 14:21 ESV / 225 helpful votes

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

Luke 12:33-34 ESV / 215 helpful votes

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Psalm 140:12 ESV / 213 helpful votes

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.

Deuteronomy 15:7-8 ESV / 209 helpful votes

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 206 helpful votes

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Matthew 19:21 ESV / 199 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Luke 14:12-14 ESV / 198 helpful votes

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Proverbs 22:22-23 ESV / 198 helpful votes

Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

James 1:27 ESV / 194 helpful votes

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.

Acts 20:35 ESV / 193 helpful votes

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

1 John 3:17 ESV / 192 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

James 2:5 ESV / 189 helpful votes

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

Galatians 2:10 ESV / 184 helpful votes

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Matthew 5:42 ESV / 184 helpful votes

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Luke 6:20-21 ESV / 180 helpful votes

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Isaiah 61:1 ESV / 168 helpful votes

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV / 168 helpful votes

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Psalm 35:10 ESV / 167 helpful votes

All my bones shall say, “O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Psalm 12:5 ESV / 167 helpful votes

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

Luke 12:33 ESV / 160 helpful votes

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Proverbs 22:2 ESV / 159 helpful votes

The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all.

Psalm 34:6 ESV / 154 helpful votes

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Leviticus 19:15 ESV / 152 helpful votes

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 15:10-11 ESV / 149 helpful votes

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 148 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Proverbs 22:16 ESV / 147 helpful votes

Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

Leviticus 19:9-10 ESV / 146 helpful votes

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

1 John 3:17-18 ESV / 143 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Isaiah 25:4 ESV / 143 helpful votes

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

Leviticus 25:35 ESV / 140 helpful votes

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

1 Samuel 2:8 ESV / 139 helpful votes

He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world.

Luke 6:38 ESV / 138 helpful votes

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Proverbs 17:5 ESV / 135 helpful votes

Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 132 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 3:11 ESV / 131 helpful votes

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Psalm 9:18 ESV / 128 helpful votes

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Deuteronomy 15:10 ESV / 128 helpful votes

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV / 124 helpful votes

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...

Isaiah 1:17 ESV / 123 helpful votes

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Luke 4:18 ESV / 119 helpful votes

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Luke 21:1-4 ESV / 118 helpful votes

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 110 helpful votes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Deuteronomy 15:7 ESV / 110 helpful votes

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 108 helpful votes

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:9 ESV / 108 helpful votes

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Isaiah 58:10 ESV / 104 helpful votes

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

Isaiah 41:17 ESV / 104 helpful votes

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Jeremiah 22:16 ESV / 101 helpful votes

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV / 100 helpful votes

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Matthew 26:11 ESV / 100 helpful votes

For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

Matthew 25:40 ESV / 99 helpful votes

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Proverbs 22:7 ESV / 96 helpful votes

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Psalm 9:9 ESV / 94 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 28:6 ESV / 90 helpful votes

Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV / 89 helpful votes

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Mark 14:7 ESV / 88 helpful votes

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 86 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Leviticus 23:22 ESV / 86 helpful votes

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Proverbs 31:20 ESV / 85 helpful votes

She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

Jeremiah 22:3 ESV / 84 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 22:29 ESV / 83 helpful votes

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Matthew 8:20 ESV / 82 helpful votes

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Leviticus 19:10 ESV / 81 helpful votes

And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV / 79 helpful votes

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Proverbs 30:8 ESV / 79 helpful votes

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,

Psalm 82:3 ESV / 78 helpful votes

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Zechariah 7:10 ESV / 77 helpful votes

Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 76 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Psalm 14:6 ESV / 76 helpful votes

You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.

Psalm 113:7 ESV / 75 helpful votes

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Exodus 23:11 ESV / 74 helpful votes

But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

James 2:2-4 ESV / 73 helpful votes

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 73 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Isaiah 10:1-3 ESV / 71 helpful votes

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?

1 Samuel 2:7 ESV / 71 helpful votes

The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

Matthew 25:35 ESV / 70 helpful votes

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Ezekiel 16:49-50 ESV / 68 helpful votes

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

James 5:1-6 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ...

Luke 7:22 ESV / 64 helpful votes

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

Deuteronomy 15:4 ESV / 64 helpful votes

But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—

Romans 15:26 ESV / 61 helpful votes

For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

Matthew 6:1-4 ESV / 59 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Psalm 112:9 ESV / 58 helpful votes

He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 57 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Proverbs 11:25 ESV / 57 helpful votes

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Psalm 109:30-31 ESV / 57 helpful votes

With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

Psalm 82:3-4 ESV / 57 helpful votes

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Luke 1:37 ESV / 56 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 3:27-28 ESV / 55 helpful votes

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

Deuteronomy 14:28-29 ESV / 51 helpful votes

“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Exodus 22:25 ESV / 48 helpful votes

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

Mark 10:21 ESV / 47 helpful votes

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Psalm 41:1 ESV / 47 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;

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