Download this page as a PDF file:
Inspirational Scriptures about our responsibility to help orphans and the needy (The Message Translation)
Psalms
37:3 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last.
37:24 …righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end…
37:26 …not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he’s out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
72:3 Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
72:12… Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need, the destitute who have run out of luck.
107:31..So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves
35..He gave the poor a safe place to live, treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.
146:7 and 9 He always does what he says-he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry. God loves good people, protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows, but makes short work of the wicked.
113: 6-7 He (God) picks up the poor from out of the dirt, rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash, Seats them among the honored guests, a place of honor among the brightest and best.
Proverbs
11:26 The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.
19:17 Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.
21: 3 Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance.
21:7 The wicked get buried alive by their loot because they refuse to use it to help others.
22:19 Don’t walk on the poor just because they’re poor, and don’t use your position to crush the weak, because God will come to their defense…
28:27 Be generous to the poor-you’ll never go hungry; shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.
29:7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor…
31:6-7 Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and–outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute!
31:20 (A virtuous woman) She’s quick to assist anyone in need, reaches out to help the poor.
Isaiah:
58:7-9 (parts) What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad… If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and–out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight….I’ll give you a full life…You’ll be like a well-watered garden…
Ezekiel 18:4 Imagine a person who lives well…. Doesn’t refuse food to the hungry, doesn’t refuse clothing to the ill-clad, doesn’t exploit the poor….This person who lives upright and well shall have a full and true life.
Daniel 4:28 (To King Nebuchadnezzar who was sentenced to judgment by God) “So, king, take my advice: Make a clean break with your sins and start living for others. Quit your wicked life and look after the needs of the down-and-out. Then you will continue to have a good life. (could have been spared IF he changed from being arrogant and evil and showed this by caring for the poor)
Hosea 14:3 You’re our last hope. Is it not true that in you the orphan finds mercy?
Matthew 25:31-40 “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting the sheep to his right and goats to his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me---you did it to me."
Luke 6:30-33 “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the loveable, do you expect a pat on the back? …
“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never---I promise---regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind."
Luke 6:40-41 Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back-given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Philippians 4:19-22 The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Amen!