There can be little room for doubt about the position of the Bible when it comes to how we should treat the stranger, or "sojourner", meaning someone who resides temporarily: he or she should be welcomed, embraced, and loved.
The gospel approach is perhaps best summed up by Jesus in his discourse on the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), when he explains that he shall come again to judge all people and will look favourably on those who welcomed a stranger because in doing so, they welcomed him.
Here, then, are 10 Bible verses on the stranger.
1. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matthew 25:35).
2. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15:7).
3. But no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveller (Job 31:32).
4. Let strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another (Proverbs 5:10).
5. When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19: 33-34).
6. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9).
7. If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you (Leviticus 25:35).
8. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt (Exodus 23:9).
9. Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (Hebrews 13:1-2).
10. You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God (Ezekiel 47:22-23).
