Ayub 34:28

34:28 so that they caused ¹  the cry of the poor

to come before him,

so that he hears ²  the cry of the needy.

Mazmur 10:17-18

10:17 Lord, you have heard ³  the request ⁴  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ⁵ 

10:18 You defend ⁶  the fatherless and oppressed, ⁷ 

so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them. ⁸ 

Mazmur 18:6

18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I cried out to my God. ⁹ 

From his heavenly temple ¹⁰  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 140:12

140:12 I know ¹²  that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor. ¹³ 

Mazmur 145:19

145:19 He satisfies the desire ¹⁴  of his loyal followers; ¹⁵ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

Mazmur 146:7-9

146:7 vindicates the oppressed, ¹⁶ 

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord releases the imprisoned.

146:8 The Lord gives sight to the blind.

The Lord lifts up all who are bent over. ¹⁷ 

The Lord loves the godly.

146:9 The Lord protects those residing outside their native land;

he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, ¹⁸ 

but he opposes the wicked. ¹⁹ 

Amsal 22:22-23

22:22 Do not exploit ²⁰  a poor person because he is poor

and do not crush the needy in court, ²¹ 

22:23 for the Lord will plead their case ²² 

and will rob those who are robbing ²³  them.

Amsal 23:10-11

23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,

or take over ²⁴  the fields of the fatherless,

23:11 for their Protector ²⁵  is strong;

he will plead their case against you. ²⁶ 

Yakobus 5:4

5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

[34:28]  ¹ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

[34:28]  ² tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.

[10:17]  ³ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[10:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to judge (on behalf of),” or “by judging (on behalf of).”

[10:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “crushed.” See v. 10.

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will not add again [i.e., “he will no longer”] to terrify, man from the earth.” The Hebrew term אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) refers here to the wicked nations (v. 16). By describing them as “from the earth,” the psalmist emphasizes their weakness before the sovereign, eternal king.

[18:6]  ⁹ tn In this poetic narrative context the four prefixed verbal forms in v. 6 are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly temple is in view, not the earthly one.

[18:6]  ¹¹ tc Heb “and my cry for help before him came into his ears.” 2 Sam 22:7 has a shorter reading, “my cry for help, in his ears.” It is likely that Ps 18:6 MT as it now stands represents a conflation of two readings: (1) “my cry for help came before him,” (2) “my cry for help came into his ears.” See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 144, n. 13.

[140:12]  ¹² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.

[140:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”

[145:19]  ¹⁴ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[146:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”

[146:8]  ¹⁷ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[146:9]  ¹⁸ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by resident aliens, the fatherless, and widows.

[146:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he makes the way of the wicked twisted.” The “way of the wicked” probably refers to their course of life (see Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1). God makes their path tortuous in the sense that he makes them pay the harmful consequences of their actions.

[22:22]  ²⁰ tn Two negated jussives form the instruction here: אַל־תִּגְזָל (’al-tigzal, “do not exploit”) and וְאַל־תְּדַכֵּא (ve’al-tÿdakke’, “do not crush”).

[22:22]  sn Robbing or oppressing the poor is easy because they are defenseless. But this makes the crime tempting as well as contemptible. What is envisioned may be in bounds legally (just) but out of bounds morally.

[22:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the gate” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “at the gate.” The “gate” of the city was the center of activity, the place of business as well as the place for settling legal disputes. The language of the next verse suggests a legal setting, so “court” is an appropriate translation here.

[22:23]  ²² tn The construction uses the verb יָרִיב (yariv) with its cognate accusative. It can mean “to strive,” but here it probably means “to argue a case, plead a case” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV). How the Lord will do this is not specified – either through righteous people or by direct intervention.

[22:23]  ²³ tn The verb קָבַע (qava’, “to rob; to spoil; to plunder”) is used here in both places to reflect the principle of talionic justice. What the oppressors did to the poor will be turned back on them by the Lord.

[23:10]  ²⁴ tn Or “encroach on” (NIV, NRSV); Heb “go into.”

[23:11]  ²⁵ tn The participle גֹּאֵל (go’el) describes a “kinsman redeemer.” Some English versions explicitly cite “God” (e.g., NCV, CEV) or “the Lord” (e.g. TEV).

[23:11]  sn The Hebrew term describes a “kinsman-redeemer.” That individual would be a rich or powerful relative who can protect the family; he does this by paying off the debts of a poor relative, buying up the property of a relative who sells himself into slavery, marrying the widow of a deceased relative to keep the inheritance in the family, or taking vengeance on someone who harms a relative, that vengeance often resulting in delivering (“redeeming”) the relative from bondage. If there was no human “kinsman redeemer,” then the defenseless had to rely on God to perform these actions (e.g., Gen 48:16; Exod 6:6; Job 19:25; Isa 41–63). In the prophetic literature God is presented as the Redeemer in that he takes vengeance on the enemies (the Babylonians) to deliverer his people (kin). In this proverb the Lord is probably the Protector of these people who will champion their cause and set things right.

[23:11]  ²⁶ sn This is the tenth saying; once again there is a warning not to encroach on other people’s rights and property, especially the defenseless (see v. 10; 22:22-23, 28).