Gage Skidmore/Flickr.com
Gage Skidmore/Flickr.com

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently spoke with a group of Christian university presidents in Washington and referenced her favorite Bible verse. The only issue is the quote she referenced can’t be found anywhere in Scripture.

On the topic of immigration, Pelosi said, “To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore the needs is to dishonor the God who made us.”

Pelosi did acknowledge that she was unable to find a reference for the quote in the Bible though she uses it all the time. She maintained that it could be found “someplace” in the Bible.

She believed it may have come from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. However, the passage doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible.

According to Slate, Pelosi has used this quote for years. The phrase appeared 12 times in congressional records from 2002 to 2018 all coming from the House Speaker.

Before she shared this quote, she referenced Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 25. Here, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

In Pelosi’s defense, the quote does have some biblical influences.

Will Kynes, an associate professor of the Hebrew Bible at Whitworth University shared with Slate that the closest comparison he could find to the lawmaker’s quote is Proverbs 14:31, which says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

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