'Strangers' in the Bible

God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price.

For their [great flocks and herds and] possessions made it impossible for them to live together [in the same region]; the land in which they lived temporarily could not support them because of their livestock.

I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as strangers (temporary residents, foreigners).

“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the soul [the feelings, thoughts, and concerns] of a stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt.

“Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel or any of the strangers living temporarily among you, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice

‘Any man from the house of Israel, or any stranger living temporarily among you, who eats any blood, against that person I shall set My face and I will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

So when any Israelite or any stranger living temporarily among them, catches any ceremonially clean animal or bird when hunting, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone native-born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

“Moreover, you shall say to the children of Israel,‘Any Israelite or any stranger residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech (the god of the Ammonites) [as a human sacrifice] shall most certainly be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; you are [only] foreigners and temporary residents with Me.

Moreover, from the children of the strangers who live as aliens among you, from them you may buy slaves and from their families who are with you, whom they have produced in your land; they may become your possession.

Therefore, show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

“You shall not take advantage of a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether [he is] one of your countrymen or one of the strangers (resident aliens, foreigners) who is in your land inside your cities.

It happened that three days after they had made a covenant (treaty) with them, the Israelites heard that they were [actually] their neighbors and that they were living among them.

When you were few in number,Even a very few, and strangers in it,

So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he assigned stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.

For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope [of remaining].

He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers who were with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa from Israel in large numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

For strangers have risen against meAnd violent men have sought my life;They have not set God before them. Selah.

When there were only a few men in number,Very few [in fact], and strangers in it;

Let the creditor seize all that he has,And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.

The Lord protects the strangers;He supports the fatherless and the widow;But He makes crooked the way of the wicked.

And strangers will be filled with your strengthAnd your hard-earned wealth will go to the house of a foreigner [who does not know God];

[Confine yourself to your own wife.] Let your children be yours alone,And not the children of strangers with you.

Your land lies desolate [because of your disobedience],Your cities are burned with fire,Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your very presence;It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust,And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away;And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

“[Cease your mad running after idols to]Keep your feet from becoming bareAnd your throat from becoming dry;But you said, ‘It is hopeless!For I have loved strangers and foreign gods,And I will walk after them.’

‘Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt,That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the Lord your GodAnd have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree,And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.

It will come about when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘As you have abandoned (rejected) Me,’ [says the Lord,] ‘and have served strange and foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

‘It shall come about on that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break the yoke off your neck and I will tear off your bonds and force apart your shackles; and strangers will no longer make slaves of the people [of Israel].

“And I will send foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow herAnd may devastate and empty her land;For in the day of destructionThey will be against her on every side.

We are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach;Disgrace has covered our faces,For foreigners [from Babylon] have comeInto the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest].

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

I will give it into the hands of strangers (Babylonians) as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they shall profane it.

For anyone of the house of Israel or among the strangers who immigrate to Israel who separates himself from Me, taking his idols into his heart, and puts right before his face the [vile] stumbling block of his wickedness and guilt, and [then] comes to the prophet to ask of Me for himself, I the Lord will answer him Myself.

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

Therefore, behold, I will bring strangers (Babylonians) upon you,The most ruthless and violent of the nations.And they will draw their swordsAgainst the beauty of your wisdom [O Tyre]And defile your splendor.

‘You will die the death of the uncircumcised [barbarian]By the hand of strangers,For I have spoken!’ says the Lord God.”’”

“And I will make the rivers [of the Nile delta] dryAnd sell the land into the hands of evil men;I will make the land desolateAnd all that is in it,By the hand of strangers. I the Lord have spoken.”

Alien tyrants of the nations have cut it down and left it; its foliage has fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys and its branches have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the nations of the earth have come from under its shade and have left it.

Strangers have devoured his strength,Yet he does not know it;Gray hairs are sprinkled on him,Yet he does not know.

For they sow the wind [in evil]And they reap the whirlwind [in disaster].The standing grain has no growth;It yields no grain.If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it up.

Then you will know and understand fully that I am the Lord your God,Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.Then Jerusalem will be holy,And strangers [who do not belong] will no longer pass through it.

“On the day that [Jerusalem was destroyed] you stood aloof [from your brother Jacob]—On the day that strangers took his forces captive and carried off his wealth,And foreigners entered his gatesAnd cast lots for Jerusalem [dividing the city for plunder]—You too were like one of them [collaborating with the enemy].