If you exploit them in any way and they cry out to me, then I will certainly hear their cry.
Parallel translations
- WEB If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry;
- KJV If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;
- BSB If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.
- NKJV If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;
- NASB If you oppress him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will assuredly hear his cry;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If the vulnerable are mistreated and cry out, God will surely hear them. The oppressed have a direct advocate in the Lord.
Overview
God personally pledges to hear the cry of the afflicted widow and orphan, just as He heard Israel's groaning in Egypt. This assures the powerless that their suffering does not escape His notice. The God who hears the cry of the oppressed answers ultimately in Christ, who bore our griefs and intercedes for us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
- Ps 10:17–18Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,
- Ps 18:6In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
- Luke 18:7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- Deut 15:9Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.
- Job 35:9“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
- Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Ps 145:19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
- Ps 146:7–9who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
- Job 31:38–39If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
- Ps 140:12I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.
- Deut 24:15In his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.
- Prov 23:10–11Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless:
- Prov 22:22–23Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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.