Listen to this, you who trample ¹  the needy, and do away with ²  the destitute in the land.

“If you lend money to any of ¹  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ²  to him; do not charge ³  him interest. ⁴ 

Before daybreak ¹  the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is ²  like a thief. ³ 

so that they caused ¹  the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he hears ²  the cry of the needy.

Evil men draw their swords and prepare their bows, to bring down ¹  the oppressed and needy, and to slaughter those who are godly. ² 

I am oppressed and needy! ¹  May the Lord pay attention to me! ²  You are my helper and my deliverer! O my God, do not delay!

I am oppressed and needy! ¹  O God, hurry to me! ²  You are my helper and my deliverer! O Lord, ³  do not delay!

The poor will graze in my pastures; ¹  the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors. ² 

A deceiver’s methods are evil; ¹  he dreams up evil plans ²  to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right. ³ 

oppresses the poor and the needy, ¹  commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to ²  idols, performs abominable acts,

We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ¹  a pair of sandals ²  for the needy! We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ³ 

There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open ¹  your hand to your fellow Israelites ²  who are needy and poor in your land.

“Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹  because of the painful cries ²  of the needy, I will spring into action,” ³  says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁴ 

With all my strength I will say, ¹  “O Lord, who can compare to you? You rescue ²  the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; ³  the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” ⁴ 

There is a generation whose teeth are like ¹  swords ²  and whose molars ³  are like knives to devour ⁴  the poor from the earth and the needy from among the human race.

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 

He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.’ ¹  The Lord says, ‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’ ² 

“‘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 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They sold the innocent ⁴  for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁵