Psalm 12:5

The Message

Into the hovels of the poor, Into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks: “I’ve had enough; I’m on my way To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched.”

Cross References

Psalm 10:12

Time to get up, God—get moving. The luckless think they’re Godforsaken. They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it, Why the wicked are so cocksure they’ll never come up for audit.

Psalm 10:5

They care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off. They live (they think) a charmed life: “We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!”

Psalm 31:19

What a stack of blessing you have piled up for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. You hide them safely away from the opposition. As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces, you silence the poisonous gossip. Blessed God! His love is the wonder of the world. Trapped by a siege, I panicked. “Out of sight, out of mind,” I said. But you heard me say it, you heard and listened.

Psalm 34:6

When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot.

Exodus 5:2

Pharaoh said, “And who is God that I should listen to him and send Israel off? I know nothing of this so-called ‘God’ and I’m certainly not going to send Israel off.”

Proverbs 14:31

You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.

Proverbs 18:21

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Next I turned my attention to all the outrageous violence that takes place on this planet—the tears of the victims, no one to comfort them; the iron grip of oppressors, no one to rescue the victims from them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead instead of the living who are still alive. But luckier than the dead or the living is the person who has never even been, who has never seen the bad business that takes place on this earth.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

Don’t be too upset when you see the poor kicked around, and justice and right violated all over the place. Exploitation filters down from one petty official to another. There’s no end to it, and nothing can be done about it. But the good earth doesn’t cheat anyone—even a bad king is honestly served by a field.

Isaiah 33:10

“Now I’m stepping in,” God says. “From now on, I’m taking over. The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am. There’s nothing to you. Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies; full of hot air, you self-destruct. You’re good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel. Earth to earth—and the sooner the better.

James 5:4

All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it. * * *

Judges 10:16

Then they cleaned house of the foreign gods and worshiped only God. And God took Israel’s troubles to heart.