Ezekiel 18:7

18:7 does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge, ¹  does not commit robbery, ²  but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked,

Ezekiel 18:16

18:16 does not oppress anyone or keep what has been given in pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his food to the hungry, and clothes the naked,

Hosea 12:7

The Lord Refutes Israel’s False Claim of Innocence

12:7 The businessmen love to cheat; ³ 

they use dishonest scales. ⁴ 

Amos 4:1

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ⁵  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ⁶  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ⁷  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ⁸ 

Zechariah 7:10

7:10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’

James 2:6

2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! ⁹  Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

¹ tn Heb “restores to the debtor his pledge.” The root occurs in Exod 22:25 in reference to restoring a man’s garment as a pledge before nightfall.

² tn The Hebrew term refers to seizure of property, usually by the rich (Isa 3:14; 10:2; Mic 2:2 [see Lev 5:21, 22]).

³ tn Heb “the merchant…loves to cheat.” The Hebrew has singular forms (noun and verb) which are used generically to refer to all Israelite merchants and traders in general. The singular noun II כְּנַעַן (kÿna’an, “a merchant; a trader”; BDB 488 s.v. II כְּנַעַן) is used in a generic sense to refer to the merchant class of Israel as a whole (e.g., Ezek 16:29; 17:4; Zeph 1:11).

⁴ tn Heb “The merchant – in his hand are scales of deceit – loves to cheat.” The present translation rearranges the Hebrew line division to produce a smoother English rendering.

⁵ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

⁶ tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

⁷ tn Heb “their.”

⁸ sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).

⁹ tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.