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“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
• Eccl 4:1Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
• Eccl 3:16Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
• Ps 82:1A Psalm by Asaph. God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.
• Ps 58:10–11The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
• Rev 17:6–7I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.
• Matt 13:41–42The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,
• 1 Kgs 21:19–20You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’”
• Amos 6:12Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
• Hab 1:12–13Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
• Ezek 22:6–14“‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you 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 3:9–12Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.
• Amos 6:2–6Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?
• Luke 1:76And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
• Zech 8:6Yahweh of Armies says: “If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?” says Yahweh of Armies.
• Acts 4:27–28“For truly, in this city against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
• Isa 10:12Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.
• Hab 1:2–3Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?
• Isa 57:15For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
• Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
• Luke 1:35The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
• Ps 55:9Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
• Acts 12:7–10And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off from his hands.
• Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
• Acts 12:23Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
• Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
• Job 27:8–23For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
• Isa 3:15What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
• Zech 7:9–13“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
• Ps 95:3For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods.
• Ps 10:17–18Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,
• Jas 2:13For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
• Ps 83:18that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
• Isa 37:36Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
• Jas 5:2–7Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
• Prov 8:17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
• Ps 140:11–12An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
• 1 Chr 21:15–16God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
• Jer 22:17–19But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.