Webster's New World College Dictionary:
"extort ... to get (money, etc.) from someone by violence, threats, misuse of authority, etc."
"extortion ... the act of extorting, or getting money, etc. by threats, misuse of authority, etc."
Ezekiel 22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand [NKJV: beat My fists] at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.
26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.
28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says' — when the LORD has not spoken.
29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.
30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." (NIV)
Habakkuk 1:12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.
13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours one more rightous than he?
14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
15 They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plenteous [NIV: for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food].
17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity? [NCV™: Will he keep on taking riches with his net? Will he go on destroying people without showing mercy?]
2:1 I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am reproved.
2 Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it [NCV™: so whoever reads it can run to tell others].
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry [NCV™: be delayed].
4 Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him [NIV: See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright]; but the just shall live by his faith.
5 Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, and he does not stay at home [NIV: he is arrogant and never at rest]. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied [Lamsa: has never enough], he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.
6 Shall not all these take up a proverb against him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his — how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges [NACB: loads himself down with debts]'? [NIV: Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, 'Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?']
7 Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. [NCV™: One day the people from whom you have taken money will turn against you. They will realize what is happening and make you shake with fear. Then they will take everything you have.]
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, because of men's blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it.
9 Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house [NIV: Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain], that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
10 You gave shameful counsel to your house, cutting off many peoples, and sinned against your soul. [NIV: You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.]
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers will answer it. [GNT: Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.]
12 Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity [NCV™: that wrongs others to start a town]!
13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labor to feed the fire, and nations weary themselves in vain? [GNT: The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this.]
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
15 Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness!
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also — drink! and be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord's right hand will be turned against you [NCV™: The cup of anger from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you], and utter shame will be on your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid [GNT: You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you], because of men's blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it. [NCV™: You hurt many people in Lebanon, but now you will be hurt. You killed many animals there, and now you must be afraid because of what you did to that land, those cities, and the people who lived in them.]
18 What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, the molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it, to make mute idols? [NIV: Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.]
19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' to silent stone, 'Arise! It shall teach!' Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and in it there is no breath at all [GNT: It may covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it].
20 But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." (NKJV)
Matthew 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master [NKJV: Teacher], even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters [Webster's Third International Dictionary: "mister ... alternative to master"]: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess [NKJV: self-indulgence].
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres [NKJV: whitewashed tombs], which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity [NKJV: lawlessness].
1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves that wicked person." (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
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