'Temporary' 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.

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).

But when Pharaoh saw that there was [temporary] relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen or pay attention to them, just as the Lord had said.

“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.

Now Moses used to take his own tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting [of God with His own people]. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the [temporary] tent of meeting which was outside the camp.

And so the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Every person who eats an animal which dies [of natural causes] or was torn by a predator, whether he is native-born or a stranger, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be [ceremonially] unclean until evening; then he will become clean.

And all of you shall have for food whatever the [untilled] land produces during its Sabbath year; yourself, and your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the foreigners who reside among you,

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

‘Now if your fellow countryman becomes poor and his hand falters with you [that is, he has trouble repaying you for something], then you are to help and sustain him, [with courtesy and consideration] like [you would] a stranger or a temporary resident [without property], so that he may live among you.

but he is to be with you as a hired man, as if he were a temporary resident; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee,

If a stranger lives among you as a resident alien and observes the Passover to the Lord, in accordance with its statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute, both for the resident alien and for the native of the land.’”

As for the assembly, there shall be one [and the same] statute for you [of the congregation] and for the stranger who is a resident alien with you, a permanent statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.

These six cities shall be a refuge for the Israelites and for the stranger and the resident alien among them; so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may escape there.

He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) by giving him food and clothing.

The Levite, because he has no share [of land] or an inheritance among you, and the stranger, and the orphan and the widow who are within your [city] gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence).

“Now if a Levite comes from any of your cities throughout Israel where he resides, and comes whenever he wishes to [the sanctuary] the place which the Lord chooses;

“You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother [Esau’s descendant]. You shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were a stranger (resident alien, foreigner) in his land.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

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

“The stranger has not lodged in the street,Because I have opened my door to the traveler.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and listen to my cry;Do not be silent at my tears;For I am Your temporary guest,A sojourner like all my fathers.

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

I am a stranger on the earth;Do not hide Your commandments from me.

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

The light of the righteous [within him—grows brighter and] rejoices,But the lamp of the wicked [is a temporary light and] goes out.

Thus says the Lord, “Execute justice and righteousness, and rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Nor shall you build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard or own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners (temporary residents).’

The people of the land have practiced oppression and extortion and have committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy and they have oppressed the stranger without justice.

and do not oppress or exploit the widow or the fatherless, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise or even imagine evil in your hearts against one another.’

“Then I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, and against those who oppress the laborer in his wages and widows and the fatherless, and against those who turn away the alien [from his right], and those who do not fear Me [with awe-filled reverence],” says the Lord of hosts.