There shall be only one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’”
- KJV Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.
- BSB You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’”
- NKJV You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”
- NLT “This same standard applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”
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
One law was to govern foreigner and native-born alike, because Yahweh is their God. God's justice shows no partiality.
Overview
Israel was forbidden to apply a double standard; the resident alien received the same legal protection and accountability as the citizen. This impartiality flowed from God's own character as the one Lord over all. It anticipates the gospel truth that God shows no favoritism and offers salvation to all peoples alike (Acts 10:34-35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Exod 12:49One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you.”
- Num 9:14“‘If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh; according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.’”
- Num 15:15–16For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the foreigner be before Yahweh.
- Num 15:29You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them.
- Lev 19:34The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
- Lev 17:10“‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
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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 24:22 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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