20 Bible Verses About Homelessness

Job 24:7-8

“Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.”

Reflection: Job is asking why God does not set times for judgment (Job 24:1), and he lists what the wicked get away with: moving boundary stones, driving off the orphan’s donkey, and forcing “all the poor of the land into hiding” (Job 24:4). These verses describe the result. With no clothes and no roof, the poor sleep exposed to the cold and the mountain rain and shelter against the rocks.

Psalm 107:4-7

“Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.”

Reflection: Psalm 107 calls on the redeemed “gathered from the lands” to tell their story (Psalm 107:2-3), and the first group it describes are wanderers in the desert who could find no city to settle in. They cried out, and God “led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.”

Matthew 8:20

“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’”

Reflection: A teacher of the law tells Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Matthew 8:19), and Jesus answers with this saying: foxes and birds have somewhere to rest, and the Son of Man does not. Luke 9:57-58 records the same exchange, set on the road, with a man who makes the same offer.

1 Corinthians 4:11

“To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.”

Reflection: Paul lists what he and the other apostles endure “to this very hour”: hunger, thirst, rags, beatings, and having no home. The next verse adds that they work hard with their own hands. Just before it, he speaks to the Corinthians with irony: “Already you have become rich!” and “You are honored, we are dishonored!” (1 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Deuteronomy 10:18-19

“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”

Reflection: Moses describes the God who “shows no partiality and accepts no bribes” (Deuteronomy 10:17) and then says what that God does: he defends the fatherless and the widow and gives the foreigner food and clothing. The command follows from it. Israel is to love the foreigner because Israel had been a foreigner in Egypt.

Psalm 68:5-6

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing…”

Reflection: The psalm calls God a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows, and then says he “sets the lonely in families” and leads prisoners out.

Psalm 146:9

“The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”

Reflection: Psalm 146 lists what the Lord does: he gives food to the hungry, sets prisoners free and lifts up those who are bowed down (Psalm 146:7-8). Verse 9 adds the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, and sets God against “the ways of the wicked”.

Ruth 2:12

“May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

Reflection: Boaz speaks these words to Ruth, a Moabite widow who left “your father and mother and your homeland” to live with a people she did not know (Ruth 2:11). She is gleaning leftover grain in his field, at her own suggestion to her mother-in-law Naomi (Ruth 2:2). Boaz describes her as having come to take refuge under the wings of the God of Israel.

Isaiah 58:7

“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Reflection: The people complain that God has not noticed their fasting (Isaiah 58:3), and God answers that they fast while exploiting their workers and quarrelling. The fast he wants includes bringing the homeless poor into shelter and clothing the naked, and not turning away from “your own flesh and blood.” The following verses promise that light will break forth and God will answer when they call (Isaiah 58:8-9).

Job 31:32

“but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler”

Reflection: In chapter 31 Job lists wrongs he has not committed and calls down judgment on himself if he is lying. Among them, he says that no stranger had to sleep in the street, because his door was open to travellers. He counts leaving a person outside overnight as a wrong he would answer for.

Hebrews 13:2

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

Reflection: The command sits between “keep on loving one another” (Hebrews 13:1) and remembering prisoners “as if you were together with them in prison” (Hebrews 13:3). The Greek word for hospitality here is philoxenia, love of strangers, so the command concerns people the host does not know. The reason given is that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Luke 14:12-14

“Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’”

Reflection: Jesus says this to his host at a meal. A guest list of friends, relatives and rich neighbours brings its own repayment, because they may invite the host back. The poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind cannot, and Jesus says the host will be repaid instead “at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Proverbs 19:17

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

Reflection: The proverb describes kindness to the poor as a loan to the Lord, with the Lord himself as the one who repays.

Luke 3:11

“John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’”

Reflection: The crowds who came to John the Baptist asked, “What should we do then?” (Luke 3:10). His first answer concerns clothing and food: whoever has two shirts shares with the one who has none. The next verses give tax collectors and soldiers their own instructions (Luke 3:12-14).

Matthew 25:35-40

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Reflection: Jesus describes the Son of Man judging the nations (Matthew 25:31-32). The King names being a stranger and being invited in alongside hunger, thirst, nakedness, sickness and prison, and those he commends do not remember ever seeing him. His answer is that what they did for “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine” they did for him. Those on his left are condemned for failing to do the same things (Matthew 25:41-46).

James 2:15-17

“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.”

Reflection: James asks what good faith is if it has no deeds (James 2:14), and he answers with this case. A brother or sister lacks clothes and daily food, and the believer offers a blessing, “keep warm and well fed,” and nothing else. James concludes that faith without action is dead.

1 John 3:17-18

“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? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Reflection: John has just said that we know what love is because Jesus laid down his life for us, and that “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). Verse 17 applies that to possessions: someone who has goods, sees a brother or sister in need and has no pity cannot claim that God’s love is in them. Verse 18 calls for love shown “with actions and in truth.”

Proverbs 31:8-9

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Reflection: King Lemuel’s mother tells her son that rulers must not drink and “deprive all the oppressed of their rights” (Proverbs 31:4-5). These verses give the positive charge: speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, judge fairly, and defend the rights of the destitute. The instruction is addressed to someone with power to decide cases.

Proverbs 21:13

“Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”

Reflection: The proverb matches the punishment to the offence. The person who will not hear the cry of the poor will one day cry out and not be answered.

Ezekiel 16:49

“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.’”

Reflection: God is speaking to Jerusalem, and he says her sister Sodom never did what Jerusalem has done (Ezekiel 16:48). The charge against Sodom here is arrogance, excess food, unconcern, and failing to help the poor and needy, and the next verse adds that they “did detestable things” (Ezekiel 16:50). Neglect of the poor stands in that list among the reasons for Sodom’s judgment.