Psalms 68:10

68:10 for you live among them.

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

Psalms 72:2

72:2 Then he will judge your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones equitably.

Zephaniah 3:12

3:12 I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people,

and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence.

James 2:5-6

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

tn Heb “needy and poor people.” The terms often refer to a socioeconomic group, but here they may refer to those who are humble in a spiritual sense.

tn Heb “and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.”

tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

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