'Foreign' in the Bible

Then Jacob said to his household and to all who [were] with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that [are] in your midst and purify yourselves and change your garments.

So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that [were] in their hands, and the ornamental rings that [were] in their ears. And Jacob buried them under the oak which [was] near Shechem.

And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom because he said, "I am an alien in a foreign land."

and her two sons--the one whose name [was] Gershom, for he had said, "I have been an alien in a foreign land,"

If {she does not please her master} who selected her, he will allow her to be redeemed; he has no authority to sell her to foreign people, since he has dealt treacherously with her.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you [are] about to lie [down] with your ancestors, and this people will arise and they will play the prostitute after {the foreign gods} of the land {to which they are going}.

[so] Yahweh alone guided him, and {there was no foreign god accompanying him}.

If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you."

He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel."

So they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served Yahweh; and {he could no longer bear} the misery of Israel.

And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If with all your heart you [are] turning to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and Ashtoreths from your midst. Commit your hearts to Yahweh and serve him alone. Then he will deliver you from the hand of [the] Philistines."

Children of a foreign land came cringing to me; {when they heard of me}, they became obedient to me.

Children of a foreign land lost heart and came trembling from their strongholds.

King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite;

Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

I dug [wells] and I drank foreign water, and I dried up with the sole of my steps all the canals of Egypt.'

He removed the foreign altars and high places, broke down the stone pillars, and cut down the Asherahs.

And he removed the foreign gods and the carved image from the house of Yahweh and all the altars which he built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, "We ourselves have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, and even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel.

Now make a confession to Yahweh the God of your ancestors and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

Please let our leaders stand for the whole assembly, and let all that are in our cities who have married foreign women come at set times, and with them the elders of and judges of each city, until the fierce wrath of our God because of this matter is averted from us."

They finished [investigating] all the men who married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

There was found from the sons of the priests those who had married foreign women, from the sons of Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

All of these had married foreign wives, and some from among the wives bore children.

So it happened when they heard the law that they separated all of the foreign people from Israel.

Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in this way? And among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet the foreign women made even him sin.

Should we listen to you all and do this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?"

So I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established responsibilities for the priests and Levites, each in his own work,

as soon as {they heard}, they obeyed me. [The] children of a foreign land feigned obedience before me.

[The] children of a foreign land {lost heart}, and they came trembling from their strongholds.

If we had forgotten the name of our God, or had spread out our hands [in prayer] to a foreign god,

There shall be no strange god among you, and you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

How could we sing the song of Yahweh in {a foreign land}?

[in order] to deliver you from a strange woman, from a foreign woman [who] flatters [with] her sayings,

Yet I planted you [as] a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me [into something that is] degenerate, the foreign vine?

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

A sword against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the foreign troops who [are] in the midst of her, so that they may become as women. A sword against her treasures, so that they may be plundered.

And he will deal with [the] {fortified strongholds} with [the help of] {a foreign god}; and he will increase wealth for whoever will acknowledge [him], and he will cause them to rule over the many, and he will distribute land for a price.

And it shall be [that] on the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh, I will punish the officials and the sons of the king and those who dress in foreign clothing.

Judah has been faithless, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

But God spoke like this: 'His descendants will be foreigners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and mistreat [them] four hundred years,

And even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, "What does this babbler want to say?" But [others said], "He appears to be a proclaimer of foreign deities," because he was proclaiming the good news [about] Jesus and the resurrection.

And throughout all the synagogues I punished them often [and] tried to force [them] to blaspheme, and [because I] was enraged at them beyond measure, I was pursuing [them] even as far as to foreign cities.

In the law it is written: "By those who speak a foreign language and by the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even in this way will they obey me," says the Lord.