26 Bible Verses about Nomads
Most Relevant Verses
When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and temporary residents in Canaan,
wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh.
He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been,
So he built an altar there, called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there.
When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead.
You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:
My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.
“I will give the land of Canaan to you
as your inherited portion.” When they were few in number,
very few indeed, and temporary residents in Canaan
wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,
The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness 40 years until the whole generation that had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight was gone.
From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not lived in a house; instead, I have moved from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle. In all My travels throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, asking: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’
Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them.
I see the tents of Cushan in distress;
the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.
What misery that I have stayed in Meshech,
that I have lived among the tents of Kedar!
About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, defeated, this is what the Lord says:
Rise up, go against Kedar,
and destroy the people of the east!
They will take their tents and their flocks
along with their tent curtains and all their equipment.
They will take their camels for themselves.
They will call out to them:
Terror is on every side!
therefore I am about to give you to the people of the east as a possession. They will set up their encampments and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the temple of the Lord to offer them a drink of wine.” So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the entire house of the Rechabites— read more.
and I brought them into the temple of the Lord to a chamber occupied by the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who had a chamber near the officials’ chamber, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, “Drink wine!” But they replied, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded: ‘You and your sons must never drink wine. You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a temporary resident.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. We also have not built houses to live in and do not have vineyard, field, or seed. But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done as our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: Come, let’s go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies. So we have been living in Jerusalem.”
Gideon traveled on the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army was unsuspecting.
Look to the barren heights and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you.
These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. read more.
But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence.
Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
