'Foreign' in the Bible

Then the Lord said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem

When she bore a son, Moses named him Gershom, for he said, "I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land."

and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land"),

If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her.

"'If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

The Lord alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.

If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well."

Joshua said, "Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel."

They threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much.

But his master said to him, "We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah."

Samuel said to all the people of Israel, "If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines."

King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh's daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.

He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods.

I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.'

When they were few in number, just a very few, and foreign residents within it,

He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord's temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord's temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city.

Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: "We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples. Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents and from these foreign wives."

Let our leaders take steps on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter."

and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives.

It was determined that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them also had children by these women.

Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign wives?"

So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to the priests and the Levites.

There must be no other god among you. You must not worship a foreign god.

make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands.

and gathered from foreign lands, from east and west, from north and south.

When Israel left Egypt, when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,

How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. They leave behind devastation and destruction.

At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to these people.

Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, 'It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!'

However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,' says the Lord.

"So then, Jeremiah, when your people ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?' tell them, 'It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So you must serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.'

I hear my dear people crying out throughout the length and breadth of the land. They are crying, 'Is the Lord no longer in Zion? Is her divine King no longer there?'" The Lord answers, "Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?"

Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people. They will trample all over my chosen land. They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.

When the time for them to be rescued comes," says the Lord who rules over all, "I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. I will deliver you from captivity. Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

Destructive forces will come against her horses and her chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; they will be as frightened as women! Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder!

Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins. For it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done.

"'But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands.

"Then they will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among foreign countries.

I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for forty years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among foreign countries.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord."

I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land.

I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them.

He will attack mighty fortresses, aided by a foreign deity. To those who recognize him he will grant considerable honor. He will place them in authority over many people, and he will parcel out land for a price.

"Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets and your sons and daughters will die violently. Your land will be given to others and you will die in a foreign land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.'"

"On the day of the Lord's sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes and the king's sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing.

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!