helping the widows and orphans

²⁷This is religion, clean and undefiled before God the Father: to visit orphans and widows in their tribulations, and to keep yourself immaculate, apart from this age.

¹⁷Whoever possesses the goods of this world, and sees his brother to be in need, and yet closes his heart to him: in what way does the love of God abide in him?

²²You shall not harm a widow or an orphan.

⁶the father of orphans and the judge of widows. God is in his holy place.

¹⁷Learn to do good. Seek judgment, support the oppressed, judge for the orphan, defend the widow.

¹⁹When you have reaped the grain in your field, and, having forgotten, you leave behind a sheaf, you shall not return to take it away. Instead, you shall permit the new arrival, and the orphan, and the widow to take it away, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.

⁵And I will approach you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against evil-doers, and adulterers, and perjurers, and those who cheat the hired hand in his wages, the widows and the orphans, and who oppress the traveler, and who have not feared me, says the Lord of hosts.

⁹The Lord watches over new arrivals. He will support the orphan and the widow. And he will destroy the ways of sinners.

²¹You shall not harass the newcomer, nor shall you afflict him. For you yourselves were once newcomers in the land of Egypt. ²²You shall not harm a widow or an orphan. ²³If you hurt them, they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry. ²⁴And my fury will be enraged, and I will strike you down with the sword. And your wives will become widows, and your sons will become orphans. ²⁵If you lend money to the poor of my people who live among you, you shall not coerce them like a collector, nor oppress them with usury.

³Judge for the indigent and the orphan. Do justice to the humble and the poor.

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

¹Then, seeing the crowds, he ascended the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples drew near to him, ²and opening his mouth, he taught them, saying: ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. ⁵Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled. ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge with true judgment, and act with mercy and compassion, each and every one with his brother. ¹⁰And do not find fault with the widow, and the orphan, and the newcomer, and the poor. And let not a man consider evil in his heart towards his brother.

¹⁸He accomplishes judgment for the orphan and the widow. He loves the sojourner, and he gives him food as well as clothing.

²⁹And the Levite, who has no other portion or possession with you, and the sojourner as well as the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, shall approach and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands which you shall do.”

³⁵I have revealed all things to you, because by laboring in this way, it is necessary to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

²⁸In the third year, you shall separate another tenth part of all the things which spring forth for you at that time, and you shall store it within your gates. ²⁹And the Levite, who has no other portion or possession with you, and the sojourner as well as the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, shall approach and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands which you shall do.”

³Judge for the indigent and the orphan. Do justice to the humble and the poor. ⁴Rescue the poor, and free the needy from the hand of the sinner.

¹Woe to those who make unfair laws, and who, when writing, write injustice: ²in order to oppress the poor in judgment, and to do violence to the case of the humble of my people, in order that widows may be their prey, and that they might plunder the orphan. ³What will you do on the day of visitation and calamity which is approaching from afar? To whom will you flee for assistance? And where will you leave behind your own glory, ⁴so that you may not be bowed down under the chains, and fall with the slain? Concerning all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended. ⁵Woe to Assur! He is the rod and the staff of my fury, and my indignation is in their hands. ⁶I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will order him against the people of my fury, so that he may take away the plunder, and tear apart the prey, and place it to be trampled like the mud of the streets.