However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord ¹  will surely bless ²  you in the land that he ³  is giving you as an inheritance, ⁴ 

So the Lord sent Nathan ¹  to David. When he came to David, ²  Nathan ³  said, ⁴  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; ¹  he has seized a house which he did not build. ² 

who shows no partiality to princes, and does not take note of ¹  the rich more than the poor, because all of them are the work of his hands?

There is one who pretends to be rich ¹  and yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor ²  and yet possesses great wealth. ³ 

The one who oppresses the poor to increase his own gain and the one who gives to the rich ¹  – both end up only in poverty.

So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? ¹  And what advantage ²  does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? ³ 

So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, ¹  but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens ²  to his advice. ³ 

The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive ¹  the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. ² 

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹  They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ²  They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

“‘See here – this was the iniquity ¹  of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help ²  the poor and needy.

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ¹ 

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹  who live on Mount Samaria! You ²  oppress the poor; you crush the needy. You say to your ³  husbands, “Bring us more to drink!” ⁴ 

You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’

It ¹  could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins ²  and the money ³  given to the poor!” So ⁴  they spoke angrily to her.

For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! ¹ 

(Now Judas ¹  said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, ²  he used to steal what was put into it.) ³ 

Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him to buy whatever they needed for the feast, ¹  or to give something to the poor.) ²