In God’s economy, the most important people are not the billionaire, the business owner, or even the blue-collar worker. Instead, in God’s economy, the most important people are the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Which is to say, the poor and the powerless.

I’ve previously gone into depth on what the book of Proverbs has to say about poverty and wealth, as well as how Christians should think about wealth.

Here are some more biblical passages relevant to the topic. All quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):

Exodus 22:21–24

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

Deuteronomy 24:14–15

You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt.

Deuteronomy 24:17–18

You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:19–22

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

Proverbs 22:22–23

Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

Isaiah 58:6–7

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs 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 them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Amos 8:4–6

Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”

Luke 12:15–21

And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Luke 14:12–14

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 18:18–25

A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’” He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

James 1:27

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 5:1–6

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, 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 pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Further Reading

  • Batey, Richard. Jesus and the Poor. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
  • Blomberg, Craig L. Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  • Boerma, Conrad. The Rich, the Poor—and the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980.
  • Chirichigno, Gregory C. Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.
  • Epsztein, Leon. Social Justice in the Ancient Near East and the People of the Bible. London: SCM, 1986.
  • Irani, K. D., and Morris Silver. Social Justice in the Ancient World. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1995.
  • Hoppe, Leslie J. There Shall Be No Poor among You: Poverty in the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon, 2004.
  • Kaiser, Walter C. Toward Old Testament Ethics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983.
  • Levin, Christopher. “The Poor in the Old Testament: Some Observations.” Religion & Theology 8 (2001): 253–73.
  • Lohfink, Norbert, S. J. “Poverty in the Laws of the Ancient Near East and of the Bible.” Theological Studies 52 (1991): 34–50.
  • Von Waldow, H. Eberhard. “Social Responsibility and Social Structure in Early Israel.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 32 (1970): 182–204.
  • Weinfeld, Moseh. Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995.
  • Wright, Christopher J. H. Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Bibliography from: A. Chadwick Thornhill, “Poverty,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).