Isaiah 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive¹ the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans.²

Isaiah 13:15-18

13:15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;

everyone who is seized³ will die⁴ by the sword.

13:16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;

their houses will be looted

and their wives raped.

13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them;⁵

they are not concerned about silver,

nor are they interested in gold.⁶

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons;⁷

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring,⁸

they will not⁹ look with pity on children.

Jeremiah 7:6

7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands.¹⁰ Stop killing innocent people¹¹ in this land. Stop paying allegiance to¹² other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.¹³

Jeremiah 22:3

22:3 The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those¹⁴ who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows.¹⁵ Do not kill innocent people¹⁶ in this land.

Ezekiel 22:7

22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt¹⁷ within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow¹⁸ within you.

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I¹⁹ will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises,²⁰ and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans,²¹ who refuse to help²² the immigrant²³ and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

¹tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

²tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

³tn Heb “carried off,” i.e., grabbed from the fleeing crowd. See HALOT 764 s.v. ספה.

⁴tn Heb “will fall” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NLT “will be run through with a sword.”

⁵tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”

⁶sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.

⁷tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

⁸tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

⁹tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

¹⁰tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

¹¹tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

¹²tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

¹³tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

¹⁴tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

¹⁵tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.

¹⁶tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”

¹⁷tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

¹⁸tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

¹⁹tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

²⁰tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

²¹tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

²²tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

²³tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”