“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- KJV Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- BSB Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- NKJV “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- NLT “You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do not oppress the foreigner, for you know the heart of an alien from your time in Egypt. Shared experience of suffering should produce empathy and justice.
Overview
Repeating and deepening the earlier command, God appeals to Israel's memory of bondage to stir compassion for the stranger. Knowing the alien's vulnerable heart, they must protect rather than exploit him. This welcome of the outsider foreshadows the gospel, in which estranged peoples are reconciled to God and one another in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 27:19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Exod 22:21“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- Deut 24:14–18You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates.
- Matt 18:33Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’
- Ezek 22:7In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
- Ps 94:6They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.
- Exod 21:21Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.
- Heb 2:17–18Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
- Deut 10:19Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 23:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.