'Foreigners' in the Bible

“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any stranger in Israel who presents his offering, whether to fulfill any of their vows or as any of their freewill (voluntary) offerings which they presented to the Lord as a burnt offering—

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and the children and the foreigners who were living among them.

But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not of the sons (descendants) of Israel. We will go on as far as Gibeah.”

“Foreigners pretend obedience to me;As soon as they hear [me], they obey me.

“Foreigners lose heart;They come trembling out of their strongholds.

These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and they attacked their tents and the Meunites (foreigners) who were found there, and utterly destroyed them to this day; and they settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.

The descendants of Israel (Jacob) separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers.

As soon as they hear me, they respond and obey me;Foreigners feign obedience to me.

Foreigners lose heart,And come trembling out of their strongholds.

Let the creditor seize all that he has,And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.

[The judge tells the creditor], “Take the clothes of one who is surety for a stranger;And hold him in pledge [when he guarantees a loan] for foreigners.”

[The judge tells the creditor,] “Take the garment of one who is surety (guarantees a loan) for a stranger;And hold him in pledge when he is surety for an immoral woman [for it is unlikely the debt will be repaid].”

For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them [as proselytes] and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel).

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,To be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath without profaning itAnd holds fast to My covenant [by conscientious obedience];

“Foreigners will build up your walls,And their kings will serve you;For in My [righteous] wrath I struck you,But in My favor and grace I have had compassion on you.

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks,And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.

“[Cease your mad running after idols to]Keep your feet from becoming bareAnd your throat from becoming dry;But you said, ‘It is hopeless!For I have loved strangers and foreign gods,And I will walk after them.’

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,Our houses to foreigners.

“And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and hand you over to strangers and execute judgment against you.

Ethiopia (Cush), Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya (Cub) and the people of the land of the covenant [the Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt] will fall with the Egyptians by the sword.”

‘Thus says the Lord God, “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

You shall divide it by lot as an inheritance among yourselves and among the foreigners who stay among you, who give birth to sons among you. They shall be to you as the native-born [in the country] among the children (descendants) of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

Then you will know and understand fully that I am the Lord your God,Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.Then Jerusalem will be holy,And strangers [who do not belong] will no longer pass through it.

“On the day that [Jerusalem was destroyed] you stood aloof [from your brother Jacob]—On the day that strangers took his forces captive and carried off his wealth,And foreigners entered his gatesAnd cast lots for Jerusalem [dividing the city for plunder]—You too were like one of them [collaborating with the enemy].

Announce it not in Gath [in Philistia],Weep not at all [and in this way betray your grief to Gentiles];In Beth-le-aphrah (House of Dust) roll in the dust [among your own people].

It is written in the Law, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, and not even then will they listen to Me,” says the Lord.

Now an overseer must be blameless and beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

And he must be hospitable [to believers, as well as strangers], a lover of what is good, sensible (upright), fair, devout, self-disciplined [above reproach—whether in public or in private].

Be hospitable to one another without complaint.