For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that plunders him?
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with justice 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 shall he slay the wicked.
Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plant pleasant plants, and shall sow it with foreign cuttings:
Moreover the multitude of your strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be in an instant suddenly.
And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Then the angel of the LORD went out, and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children.
When you cry, let your crowds deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
For all those things has my hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.
Listen, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?