Helping others is a natural way to share God’s love. No matter how busy we are or how little we have to give, these Bible verses about helping others show how deeply God cares about us giving what we do have.
Truly helping can look different depending on the context or the recipient. Use these verses as a guide as you learn about loving others through practically helping them.
All Scriptures are in NIV unless otherwise noted.
Bibles Verses About Helping People in Poverty
God calls us to remember the impoverished and do what we can to help. The Scriptures listed below are great starting places for understanding how deeply God cares about his people helping those in poverty.
Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.
James 2:14-17 – “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith by has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
1 John 3:17 – If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Proverbs 22:9 – The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.
Isaiah 58:9-10 – Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
Matthew 25:44-45 – They will also answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Proverbs 28:27 – Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.
Proverbs 31:9 – Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Leviticus 25:35 – “If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and needy and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.”
Bible Verses About God’s Help for People in Poverty
God doesn’t leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). And that includes those living in poverty. Let’s read about how God helps those that are impoverished around us.
Isaiah 25:4 – You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall.
Psalm 68:5 – A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 140:12 – I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
Psalm 35:10 – My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and need from those who rob them.”
Psalm 12:5 – “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
Psalm 9:9 – The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
2 Corinthians 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Instructions From Jesus on Helping Others
Jesus is our perfect example of what it means to serve others. After all, he sacrificed his life so that all of us could have a relationship with him and live eternally. What does Jesus tell us about serving those around us?
John 15:12 – “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
Matthew 5:42 – “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Luke 12:33 – “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Luke 6:27-28 – “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Luke 6:31 – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Bible Verses About Helping Other Believers
The Bible is also clear about our duty to each other as followers of Jesus. We’re called to life each other up in our walk with Christ.
Romans 12:13 – Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Galatians 6:2 – Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Hebrews 6:10 – God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Galatians 5:13 – “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Romans 12:10 – Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
