Bible Verses about Injustice

1. Forbidden

Leviticus 19:15 (ESV) — 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

Leviticus 19:35 (ESV) — 35 “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.

Deuteronomy 16:19 (ESV) — 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

2. Specially to be avoided towards

a. The Poor

Exodus 23:6 (ESV) — 6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

Proverbs 22:16 (ESV) — 16 Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

Proverbs 22:22 (ESV) — 22 Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,

Proverbs 22:23 (ESV) — 23 for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.

b. The Stranger and Fatherless

Exodus 22:21 (ESV) — 21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 22:22 (ESV) — 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

Deuteronomy 24:17 (ESV) — 17 “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge,

Jeremiah 22:3 (ESV) — 3 Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

c. Servants

Job 31:13 (ESV) — 13 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

Job 31:14 (ESV) — 14 what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

Deuteronomy 24:14 (ESV) — 14 “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.

Jeremiah 22:13 (ESV) — 13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,

3. Of the least kind, condemned

Luke 16:10 (ESV) — 10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

4. God

a. Regards

Ecclesiastes 5:8 (ESV) — 8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

b. Approves not of

Lamentations 3:35 (ESV) — 35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,

Lamentations 3:36 (ESV) — 36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.

c. Abominates

Proverbs 17:15 (ESV) — 15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

Proverbs 20:10 (ESV) — 10 Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

d. Hears the cry of those who suffer

James 5:4 (ESV) — 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

e. Provoked to avenge

Psalm 12:5 (ESV) — 5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

A woman wearing Christian t-shirt

5. Brings a curse

Deuteronomy 27:17 (ESV) — 17 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Deuteronomy 27:19 (ESV) — 19 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

6. A bad example leads to 

Exodus 23:2 (ESV) — 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,

7. Intemperance leads to 

Proverbs 31:5 (ESV) — 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

8. Covetousness leads to

Jeremiah 6:13 (ESV) — 13 “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

Ezekiel 22:12 (ESV) — 12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

Micah 2:2 (ESV) — 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

9. Saints should

a. Hate

Proverbs 29:27 (ESV) — 27 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

b. Testify against

Psalm 58:1 (ESV) — 1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

Psalm 58:2 (ESV) — 2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

Micah 3:8 (ESV) — 8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:9 (ESV) — 9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight,

c. Bear, patiently

1 Corinthians 6:7 (ESV) — 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

d. Take no vengeance for

Matthew 5:39 (ESV) — 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

10. The wicked

a. Deal with

Isaiah 26:10 (ESV) — 10 If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

b. Judge with

Psalm 82:2 (ESV) — 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Ecclesiastes 3:16 (ESV) — 16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

Habakkuk 1:4 (ESV) — 4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

c. Practice, without shame

Jeremiah 6:13 (ESV) — 13 “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 6:15 (ESV) — 15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.

Zephaniah 3:5 (ESV) — 5 The Lord within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame.

11. Punishment of 

Proverbs 11:7 (ESV) — 7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

Proverbs 28:8 (ESV) — 8 Whoever multiplies his wealth by interest and profit gathers it for him who is generous to the poor.

Amos 5:11 (ESV) — 11 Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

Amos 5:12 (ESV) — 12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

Amos 8:5 (ESV) — 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

Amos 8:8 (ESV) — 8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

1 Thessalonians 4:6 (ESV) — 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

12. Exemplified

a. Potiphar

Genesis 39:20 (ESV) — 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.

b. Sons of Samuel

1 Samuel 8:3 (ESV) — 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

c. Ahab

1 Kings 21:10 (ESV) — 10 And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

1 Kings 21:15 (ESV) — 15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”

1 Kings 21:16 (ESV) — 16 And as soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

d. Jews

Isaiah 59:14 (ESV) — 14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

e. Princes &c.

Daniel 6:4 (ESV) — 4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.

f. Judas

Matthew 27:4 (ESV) — 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”

g. Pilate

Matthew 27:24–26 (ESV) — 24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

h. Priests &c.

Acts 4:3 (ESV) — 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

i. Festus.

Acts 24:27 (ESV) — 27 When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.