'Strangers' in the Bible

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be foreigners in a land that does not belong to them; they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.“Where do you come from?” he asked.“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

For strangers rise up against me,and violent men seek my life.They have no regard for God.Selah

Let a creditor seize all he has;let strangers plunder what he has worked for.

strangers will drain your resources,and your earnings will end up in a foreigner’s house.

They should be for you aloneand not for you to share with strangers.

Lambs will grazeas if in their own pastures,and strangers will eatamong the ruins of the rich.

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks,and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

Keep your feet from going bareand your throat from thirst.But you say, “It’s hopeless;I love strangers,and I will continue to follow them.”

Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God.You have scattered your favors to strangersunder every green treeand have not obeyed My voice.This is the Lord’s declaration.

When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

“On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your chains so strangers will never again enslave him.

I will send strangers to Babylonwho will scatter her and strip her land bare,for they will come against herfrom every side in the day of disaster.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,our houses to foreigners.

You adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!

I am about to bring strangers against you,ruthless men from the nations.They will draw their swordsagainst your magnificent wisdomand will defile your splendor.

On the day you stood aloof,on the day strangers captured his wealth,while foreigners entered his gateand cast lots for Jerusalem,you were just like one of them.

“Yes,” he said.When he went into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, “What do you think, Simon? Who do earthly kings collect tariffs or taxes from? From their sons or from strangers?”

“From strangers,” he said.“Then the sons are free,” Jesus told him.

They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.”

God spoke in this way:His descendants would be strangersin a foreign country,and they would enslaveand oppress them 400 years.

So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,

Dear friend, you are showing faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers, especially when they are strangers.