And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
- BSB When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.
- NKJV ‘And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.
- NASB ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
- NLT “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land.
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
Israel must not wrong the foreigner living among them. God requires just and compassionate treatment of outsiders.
Overview
The resident alien was vulnerable, lacking the protections of tribe and land. God commands that they not be oppressed, extending covenant ethics beyond ethnic Israel. This care for the sojourner reflects God's own heart for the marginalized and anticipates the gospel's reach to all nations, where Gentiles become fellow citizens with the saints (Eph. 2:19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 22:21Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- Exod 23:9Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- Mal 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Jer 7:6If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
- Deut 24:14Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
- Ezek 22:29The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
- Ezek 22:7In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
- Deut 10:18–19He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:33 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
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