“I have never refused to help poor people.\par I always gave widows what they needed.\par
Exodus 22:22 - Easy To Read Version “You must never do anything bad to women whose husbands are dead or to children without parents. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. American Standard Version (1901) Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Common English Bible Don’t treat any widow or orphan badly. Catholic Public Domain Version You shall not harm a widow or an orphan. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan. |
“I have never refused to help poor people.\par I always gave widows what they needed.\par
Those bad people hurt poor people,\par and made them cry to God for help.\par And God hears that cry for help.\par
\{Lord,\} surely you see the cruel and evil things\par that bad people do.\par Look at those things,\par and do something!\par People with many troubles\par come to you for help.\par Lord, you are the One who helps orphans. {\cf2\super [56]} \par \{So help them!\}\par
The Lord’s angel builds a camp\par around the people that follow him.\par The Lord’s angel protects those people.\par
The Lord is on their side. He supports them and he will take things away from any person that takes from them.
Never move an old property line. And never take land that belongs to orphans. {\cf2\super [32]}
The Lord will be against you. The Lord is powerful and he defends those orphans.
Learn to do good things. Be fair with other people. Punish the people that hurt others. Help the children that have no parents. Help the women whose husbands are dead.”
Your rulers are rebels and friends of thieves. All of your rulers demand bribes—they accept money for doing wrong things. All of your rulers take pay for cheating people. Your rulers don’t try to help the children that have no parents. And your rulers don’t listen to the needs of the women whose husbands are dead.”
Those lawmakers are not fair to the poor people. They take away the poor people’s rights. They allow people to steal from widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [112]}
You must be fair to strangers. You must do the right things for widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [54]} Don’t kill innocent people! Don’t follow other gods! Why? Because they will ruin your lives.
If you obey me, I will let you live in this place. I gave this land to your ancestors {\cf2\super [55]} for them to keep forever.
People in Jerusalem don’t respect their parents. They hurt foreigners in that city. They cheat orphans and widows {\cf2\super [170]} in that place.
Don’t hurt widows and orphans, {\cf2\super [19]} \par strangers, or poor people.\par Don’t even think of doing bad things\par to each other!”\par
Then I will come to you—and I will do the right thing. I will be like a person that is ready to tell the judge about the bad things people did. Some people do evil magic. Some people do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [19]} Some people make false promises. Some people cheat their workers—they don’t pay them the money they promised. People don’t help widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [20]} People don’t help strangers. People don’t respect me!” The Lord All-Powerful said these things.
He helps children that have no parents. He helps widows. [63] He loves even the strangers in our country. He gives them food and clothes.
“Don’t ever refuse to help someone simply because the seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near. Don’t let an evil thought like that enter your mind. You must never have bad thoughts about a person that needs help. You must not refuse to help him. If you don’t help that poor person, then he will complain to the Lord against you. And the Lord will find you guilty of sin.
“You must make sure that foreigners and orphans [151] are treated fairly. And you must never take clothes from a widow [152] as security. [153]
Remember, you were poor slaves in Egypt. And the Lord your God took you from that place and set you free. That is why I tell you to do these things for poor people.
“{The Levites will say,} ‘Cursed is the person that does not give fair judgment for the foreigners, orphans, [177] and widows [178] !’
The kind of religion (worship) that God accepts is this: caring for orphans {\cf2\super [2]} or widows {\cf2\super [3]} who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world’s \{evil\} influence. This is the kind of religion (worship) that God accepts as pure and good.