The stranger and outcast

¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

¹⁹ So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

³³ When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.

³⁴ You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

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.

Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.”

⁶ And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants— all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—

⁷ I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

⁸ Thus declares the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”

⁵ For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another,

⁶ if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

³¹ if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

³² but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

³³ if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

³² And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

³³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.

¹⁷ Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.

¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from that place. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.

¹⁹ If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

¹⁹ Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴¹ And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

⁴² for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

Show hospitality to one another without complaining.

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

³⁵ but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

⁹ When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

¹⁰ You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,

³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

² And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³ “My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

⁴ Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵ And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

⁷ Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

⁴¹ And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

⁴² for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

⁴⁸ If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.

⁴⁹ The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

But when a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, he looked at him and had compassion.

He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.

¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—

¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

²⁰ “So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

²² And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

¹ Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,

² and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³ But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

¹⁵ They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night.

¹⁶ That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field.

¹⁷ When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”

²⁰ “Peace to you,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need. Only do not spend the night in the square.”

²¹ So he brought him to his house and fed his donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.

One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.

²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

²⁸ and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.

So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”