The Bible consistently emphasizes the duty of believers to care for the poor, reflecting God's compassion and justice. This duty is woven throughout both the Old and New Testaments, highlighting the importance of generosity, justice, and mercy.

Old Testament Teachings

The Mosaic Law contains numerous provisions for the care of the poor. In Deuteronomy 15:7-8 , it is written: "If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs." This command underscores the expectation of open-handed generosity towards those in need.

Leviticus 19:9-10 instructs, "When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God." This law institutionalizes provision for the poor, ensuring they have access to food and sustenance.

The prophets also echo this duty. Isaiah 58:6-7 calls for a fast that involves sharing with the hungry and providing shelter to the homeless: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your home, and to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

New Testament Teachings

Jesus Christ's ministry was marked by a profound concern for the poor. In the Sermon on the Mount, He teaches, "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42). This instruction emphasizes a personal responsibility to respond to the needs of others.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus illustrates that love for one's neighbor transcends ethnic and social boundaries, calling His followers to show mercy and compassion to those in need, regardless of their background.

The early church exemplified this duty in Acts 4:34-35 : "There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet for distribution to anyone as he had need." This communal sharing ensured that the needs of the poor were met within the Christian community.

The Apostle Paul also emphasizes the importance of remembering the poor. In Galatians 2:10 , he recounts, "They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." This reflects the continuity of the duty to care for the poor from the early church to the broader mission of the apostles.

Principles of Giving

The Bible outlines principles for giving to the poor, emphasizing the attitude and heart behind the act. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 , Paul writes, "Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver." This highlights the importance of willingness and joy in giving.

Furthermore, Proverbs 19:17 states, "Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender." This proverb underscores the spiritual dimension of giving, suggesting that acts of kindness towards the poor are seen and rewarded by God.

Conclusion

The biblical mandate to care for the poor is clear and compelling, calling believers to act with compassion, justice, and generosity. This duty reflects the character of God and the transformative power of the Gospel in the lives of individuals and communities.Exodus 22:25-27
If you lend money to any of my people that is poor by you, you shall not be to him as an usurer, neither shall you lay on him usury.
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Exodus 23:11
But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still; that the poor of your people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard, and with your olive grove.
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Leviticus 19:9,10
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
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Leviticus 23:22
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not make clean riddance of the corners of your field when you reap, neither shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest: you shall leave them to the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
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Leviticus 25:25-28,35-37,39-43
If your brother be waxen poor, and has sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
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Deuteronomy 14:28,29
At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:
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Deuteronomy 15:2-14
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lends ought to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD's release.
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Deuteronomy 24:12-21
And if the man be poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge:
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Deuteronomy 26:12,13
When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled;
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Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy to our LORD: neither be you sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
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Psalm 37:21,26
The wicked borrows, and pays not again: but the righteous shows mercy, and gives.
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Psalm 41:1-3
Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
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Psalm 112:4,5,9
To the upright there rises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
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Proverbs 28:27
He that gives to the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.
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Proverbs 29:7
The righteous considers the cause of the poor: but the wicked regards not to know it.
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Proverbs 31:9,20
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
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Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
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Isaiah 16:3,4
Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the middle of the noonday; hide the outcasts; denude not him that wanders.
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Isaiah 58:7,10
Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
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Ezekiel 18:7,16,17
And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has spoiled none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
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Daniel 4:27
Why, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of your tranquility.
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Zechariah 7:10
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
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Matthew 5:42
Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not you away.
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Matthew 19:21
Jesus said to him, If you will be perfect, go and sell that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
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Matthew 25:35,36
For I was an hungered, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:
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Mark 14:7
For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you will you may do them good: but me you have not always.
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Luke 3:11
He answers and said to them, He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise.
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Luke 6:30
Give to every man that asks of you; and of him that takes away your goods ask them not again.
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Luke 11:41
But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean to you.
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Luke 12:33
Sell that you have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts.
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Luke 14:12-14
Then said he also to him that bade him, When you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends, nor your brothers, neither your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbors; lest they also bid you again, and a recompense be made you.
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Luke 18:22
Now when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, Yet lack you one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
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Luke 19:8
And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
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Acts 20:35
I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
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Romans 12:8,13,20
Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
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1 Corinthians 13:3
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.
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1 Corinthians 16:1,2
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you.
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2 Corinthians 6:10
As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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2 Corinthians 9:5-7
Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brothers, that they would go before to you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof you had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
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2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.
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Galatians 2:10
Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
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Galatians 6:10
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.
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Ephesians 4:28
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.
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1 Timothy 5:9,10,16
Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man.
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Hebrews 13:3
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
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James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
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James 2:2-9,15,16
For if there come to your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
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James 5:4
Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
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1 John 3:17-19
But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?
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The Duty of Remembering the Poor
... The Duty of Remembering the Poor. A Sermon No.99. Delivered on Thursday
Evening, September 25th, 1856, by the. REV. CH SPURGEON. At ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 2 1856/the duty of remembering the.htm

The Tillage of the Poor
... It was 'the tillage of the poor,' the careful, diligent husbandry of the man ... deduces
obligation from equipment, and preaches a stringent code of duty to those ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/the tillage of the poor.htm

The Duty of Reproving Our Neighbour
... no unrighteousness in judgment: Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor,"
which compassionate ... I.1. Let us consider, First, What is the duty that is here ...
/.../wesley/sermons on several occasions/sermon 65 the duty of.htm

The Poor Debtor.
... To cancel these obligations would be all right"nay, your duty"if you could do so
without ... it had been for some time, and so was the sleep of the poor debtor ...
//christianbookshelf.org/arthur/words for the wise/the poor debtor.htm

The Children of the Poor.
... And, beside the absolute duty which is imposed upon us by their natural position,
I observe that the Children of the Poor create an appeal to prudential ...
/.../chapin/humanity in the city/discourse vii the children of.htm

Or Take the Following Hymn, which Surely Embodies a Noble ...
... Or take the following hymn, which surely embodies a noble conception of the duty
and the aspirations of a Christian sovereign, and ... To rich and poor impartially ...
/.../winkworth/christian singers of germany/or take the following hymn.htm

At Court
... sash in which M. Vincent comes to Court," said Mazarin one day to the Queen, laying
hold of the coarse woolen braid that did duty with poor country priests for ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/forbes/life of st vincent de paul/chapter 8 at court.htm

Letter ix. Religious Culture and Duty.
... subject of all: the infinitely momentous subject of religious culture and duty. ... The
most fortunately circumstanced life may be made poor by its absence. ...
/.../letter ix religious culture and.htm

The Duty of Every Day
... day religion is the only thing that will enable us to do what the duty of every ... So
our lives will be dusty and dead and cold and poor and prosaic unless that ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/the duty of every day.htm

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. Chap. v. 3 and 8, "Blessed are ...
... so done to him, as he doeth to the poor? "Blessed," saith He, "are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy." How in each case hath every duty its appropriate ...
/.../sermons on selected lessons of the new testament/sermon iii on the words.htm

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