Ecclesiastes 5:8

Don't be shocked when you see the poor oppressed and justice perverted, for corrupt officials watch over and shield one another. It matters because it explains the bureaucratic chains that often entrench injustice.

Cross-references · 40

• Ps 12:5“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
• Eccl 4:1Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
• Eccl 3:16Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.
• Ps 82:1A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:
• Ps 58:10–11The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
• Rev 17:6–7I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.
• Matt 13:41–42The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.
• 1 Kgs 21:19–20Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
• Amos 6:12“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
• Hab 1:12–13Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.
• Ezek 22:6–14See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
• Luke 1:32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
• Mic 3:9–12Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
• Amos 6:2–6Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
• Luke 1:76And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,
• Zech 8:6This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.
• Acts 4:27–28In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.
• Isa 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
• Hab 1:2–3How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?
• Isa 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
• Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
• Luke 1:35The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
• Ps 55:9O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.
• Acts 12:7–10Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
• Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
• Acts 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
• Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
• Job 27:8–23For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
• Isa 3:15Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
• Zech 7:9–13“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
• Ps 95:3For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.
• Ps 10:17–18You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
• Jas 2:13For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
• Ps 83:18May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
• Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
• Jas 5:2–7Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.
• Prov 8:17I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.
• Ps 140:11–12May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.
• 1 Chr 21:15–16Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
• Jer 22:17–19“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

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