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Scripture · Old Testament

Ecclesiastes 5:8

Ecclesiastes 5:8 is verse 8 of Ecclesiastes chapter 5, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.

Berean Standard Bible

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

BSB source and public domain terms

King James Version

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

World English Bible

If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them.

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Ecclesiastes 5:6–10 · Berean Standard Bible

6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

7 For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

8 If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

9 The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

10 He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 5

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

Psalms 12:5

“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

Psalms 55:9

O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

Psalms 58:11

Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

Proverbs 8:17

I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.

Habakkuk 1:2

How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?

Habakkuk 1:3

Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.

Habakkuk 1:13

Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Zechariah 8:6

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.

1 John 3:13

So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

Revelation 17:6

I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

Revelation 17:7

“Why are you so amazed?” said the angel. “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.

Isaiah 10:5

Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.

Isaiah 10:6

I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

Isaiah 10:7

But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.

Isaiah 10:12

So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

Isaiah 46:10

I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

Isaiah 46:11

I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

Habakkuk 1:12

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.

Acts 4:27

In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.

Acts 4:28

They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.

Romans 11:33

O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

Luke 1:32

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

Luke 1:35

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:76

And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,

1 Kings 21:19

Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

1 Kings 21:20

When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.

Job 20:19

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.

Job 20:20

Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.

Job 20:21

Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.

Job 20:22

In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.

Job 20:23

When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

Job 20:24

Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

Job 20:25

It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.

Job 20:26

Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

Job 20:27

The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.

Job 20:28

The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

Job 20:29

This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”

Job 27:8

For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

Job 27:9

Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

Job 27:10

Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

Job 27:11

I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty.

Job 27:12

Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?

Job 27:13

This is the wicked man’s portion from God— the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

Job 27:14

Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food.

Job 27:15

His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.

Job 27:16

Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,

Job 27:17

what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.

Job 27:18

The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.

Job 27:19

He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.

Job 27:20

Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night.

Job 27:21

The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

Job 27:22

It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.

Job 27:23

It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.

Psalms 10:17

You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

Psalms 10:18

to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalms 58:10

The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Psalms 82:1

God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:

Psalms 83:18

May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.

Psalms 140:11

May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.

Psalms 140:12

I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.

Isaiah 3:15

Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

Isaiah 5:7

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

Isaiah 59:13

rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

Isaiah 59:14

So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

Isaiah 59:15

Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

Isaiah 59:16

He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.

Jeremiah 22:17

“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

Jeremiah 22:18

Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

Jeremiah 22:19

He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 22:6

See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

Ezekiel 22:7

Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

Ezekiel 22:8

You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

Ezekiel 22:9

Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.

Ezekiel 22:10

In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.

Ezekiel 22:11

One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

Ezekiel 22:12

In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 22:13

Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.

Ezekiel 22:14

Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.

Amos 5:12

For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

Amos 6:2

Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

Amos 6:3

You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.

Amos 6:4

You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

Amos 6:5

You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.

Amos 6:6

You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

Amos 6:12

“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

Amos 8:4

Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,

Amos 8:5

asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

Amos 8:6

Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”

Amos 8:7

The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.

Micah 2:1

Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

Micah 2:2

They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

Micah 2:3

Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

Micah 2:9

You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.

Micah 3:1

Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?

Micah 3:2

You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.

Micah 3:3

You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”

Micah 3:4

Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

Micah 3:9

Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,

Micah 3:10

who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Micah 3:11

Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

Micah 3:12

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Micah 6:10

Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?

Micah 6:11

Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

Micah 6:12

For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

Micah 6:13

Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.

Zechariah 7:9

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.

Zechariah 7:10

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

Zechariah 7:11

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

Zechariah 7:12

They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

Zechariah 7:13

And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

Malachi 3:5

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

James 2:13

For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 5:2

Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

James 5:3

Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days.

James 5:4

Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

James 5:5

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

James 5:6

You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

James 5:7

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

1 Chronicles 21:15

Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1 Chronicles 21:16

When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

Psalms 95:3

For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.

Isaiah 37:36

Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

Matthew 13:41

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.

Matthew 13:42

And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Acts 12:7

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

Acts 12:8

“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

Acts 12:9

So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.

Acts 12:10

They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.

Acts 12:23

Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

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