Hearken, my dearest brethren: hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him?
THE spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me. He hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives and deliverance to them that are shut up:
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation and with the robe of justice he hath covered me: as a bridegroom decked with a crown and as a bride adorned with her jewels.
But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth: and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, you that have wrought his judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid in the day of the Lord's indignation.
My hand made all these things, and all these things were made, saith the Lord. But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words?
For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth eternity. And his name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place and with a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite.
And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant.
The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and its princes. For you have devoured the vineyard: and the spoil of the poor is in your house.
Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall.