Yesaya 10:2

10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,

and to deprive ¹  the oppressed among my people of justice,

so they can steal what widows own,

and loot what belongs to orphans. ² 

Yesaya 13:15-18

13:15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;

everyone who is seized ³  will die ⁴  by the sword.

13:16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes;

their houses will be looted

and their wives raped.

13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; ⁵ 

they are not concerned about silver,

nor are they interested in gold. ⁶ 

13:18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ⁷ 

they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ⁸ 

they will not ⁹  look with pity on children.

Yeremia 7:6

7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ¹⁰  Stop killing innocent people ¹¹  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ¹²  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ¹³ 

Yeremia 22:3

22:3 The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those ¹⁴  who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. ¹⁵  Do not kill innocent people ¹⁶  in this land.

Yehezkiel 22:7

22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹⁷  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ¹⁸  within you.

Maleakhi 3:5

3:5 “I ¹⁹  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ²⁰  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ²¹  who refuse to help ²²  the immigrant ²³  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

[10:2]  ¹ tn Or “rob” (ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); KJV “take away the right from the poor.”

[10:2]  ² tn Heb “so that widows are their plunder, and they can loot orphans.”

[10:2]  sn On the socio-economic background of vv. 1-2, see the note at 1:23.

[13:15]  ³ tn Heb “carried off,” i.e., grabbed from the fleeing crowd. See HALOT 764 s.v. ספה.

[13:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “will fall” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NLT “will be run through with a sword.”

[13:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”

[13:17]  ⁶ sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.

[13:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and bows cut to bits young men.” “Bows” stands by metonymy for arrows.

[13:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fruit of the womb.”

[13:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “their eye does not.” Here “eye” is a metonymy for the whole person.

[7:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ¹² tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[22:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[22:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.

[22:3]  sn These were classes of people who had no one to look out for their rights. The laws of Israel, however, were careful to see that their rights were guarded (cf. Deut 10:18) and that provision was made for meeting their needs (cf. Deut 24:19-21). The Lord promised to protect them (cf. Ps 146:9) and a curse was called down on any who deprived them of justice (cf. Deut 27:19).

[22:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”

[22:3]  sn Do not kill innocent people. For an example of one of the last kings who did this see Jer 36:20-23. Manasseh was notorious for having done this and the book of 2 Kgs attributes the ultimate destruction of Judah to this crime and his sin of worshiping false gods (2 Kgs 21:16; 24:4).

[22:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ¹⁸ tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ²² tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ²³ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”