30 Profound Bible Quotes About Immigrants & Strangers

The Bible offers profound guidance on how communities should treat those who dwell among them, especially immigrants and sojourners. These timeless verses provide a moral compass, emphasizing compassion, justice, and love for the alien living within your gates, reminding us of our shared human experience.

The Foundational Command to Welcome (Exodus & Leviticus)

"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."

Author: Leviticus 19:33-34 (NIV)

Benefit: This verse establishes the foundational command: treating immigrants exactly like native citizens because the community remembers its own history of displacement.

"You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt."

Author: Exodus 22:21 (ESV)

Benefit: A direct instruction prohibiting any form of abuse or exploitation against those new to the land, based on shared historical experience.

"Cursed be anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow."

Author: Deuteronomy 27:19 (NIV)

Benefit: Highlights that failing to provide justice and fairness to the vulnerable, including immigrants, incurs divine judgment.

"He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing."

Author: Deuteronomy 10:18 (ESV)

Benefit: Describes God's character as one who actively cares for the marginalized, setting an example for believers to follow.

"Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns."

Author: Deuteronomy 24:14 (ESV)

Benefit: Ensures economic fairness and protection against wage theft or unfair labor practices for immigrants working within the community.

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God."

Author: Leviticus 23:22 (ESV)

Benefit: Mandates specific economic practices (leaving gleanings) designed to provide subsistence and dignity to the poor and foreigners.

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger, providing him with food and clothing."

Author: Deuteronomy 10:17-18 (NRSV)

Benefit: Reinforces God's impartial justice and specific affection for the vulnerable stranger, whom followers must also aid.

"The sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do."

Author: Deuteronomy 14:29 (ESV)

Benefit: Ties the practice of hospitality and provision directly to receiving spiritual and material blessings from God.

"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."

Author: Leviticus 25:35 (ESV)

Benefit: Compares the necessity of caring for a struggling relative to the established duty of caring for the stranger, elevating the status of both.

Prophetic and New Testament Calls for Justice

"Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."

Author: Zechariah 7:10 (ESV)

Benefit: Connects internal morality (not devising evil) with external actions of compassion toward vulnerable groups like sojourners.

"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."

Author: Matthew 25:35 (NIV)

Benefit: This key New Testament verse identifies acts of welcoming strangers and meeting basic needs as direct service to Christ himself.

"So I will draw near to you for judgment... against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts."

Author: Malachi 3:5 (ESV)

Benefit: Explicitly warns of divine consequence for those who oppress or refuse aid to sojourners (immigrants), highlighting the serious nature of the command.

"Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and the writers who inscribe oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!"

Author: Isaiah 10:1-2 (ESV)

Benefit: A warning against lawmakers and authorities who create systemic policies that institutionalize oppression against the needy and marginalized, including immigrants.

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."

Author: Ezekiel 16:49 (ESV)

Benefit: Cites the failure to care for the vulnerable and poor as a primary moral failing leading to severe judgment.

"Do not oppress anyone, and render judgment in your gates with truth."

Author: Zechariah 8:16 (ESV)

Benefit: Calls for judicial integrity and the avoidance of oppression, ensuring that legal and communal decisions are fair to all residents, including newcomers.

Hospitality, Love, and Radical Inclusion

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

Author: Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)

Benefit: Encourages radical hospitality by reminding believers that the stranger they encounter might be a divine messenger or test of character.

"Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Author: Romans 12:13 (NIV)

Benefit: A general instruction for active, practical love and welcoming extended to all who require assistance, regardless of origin.

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Author: Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

Benefit: Underscores the theological principle of unity and equality, dissolving national, ethnic, and social divisions within the community of faith.

"If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"

Author: James 2:15-16 (ESV)

Benefit: Criticizes passive well-wishing and demands practical, material assistance be given to those suffering poverty or lack, a state often faced by new immigrants.

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

Author: Matthew 22:39 (NIV)

Benefit: The second greatest commandment, which broadly mandates selfless care and empathy toward everyone, including those outside one's immediate circle.

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."

Author: Romans 15:7 (ESV)

Benefit: Connects the act of mutual welcoming among people to the ultimate welcome Christ provided through salvation, making it a form of worship.

The Reminder of Our Sojourner Status

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers."

Author: Psalm 39:12 (ESV)

Benefit: Acknowledges the temporary, sojourner status of humanity on Earth, fostering empathy for those who are literally sojourners.

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were."

Author: 1 Chronicles 29:14-15 (ESV)

Benefit: Reminds communities that all earthly possessions and residences are temporary, reinforcing the humility required to treat immigrants kindly.

"The alien who is in your gates shall eat and be satisfied."

Author: Deuteronomy 26:12 (NIV, duty of tithe)

Benefit: Ensures that community charity and provisioning rituals include the immigrant living within the town limits, guaranteeing their provision.

"Do not oppress the sojourner, for you know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt."

Author: Exodus 23:9 (ESV)

Benefit: Appeals directly to shared memory and empathy: because the people of Israel experienced displacement, they must understand and protect others facing it.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne... and the King will answer, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’"

Author: Matthew 25:31, 40 (ESV)

Benefit: Places the ethical treatment of the marginalized (which includes the immigrant stranger) at the center of final eternal judgment.

"If your neighbor is needy, you must support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue to live with you."

Author: Leviticus 25:35 (CJB)

Benefit: Explicitly equates the moral obligation to assist a struggling family member with the obligation owed to a complete foreigner, underscoring impartiality.

"For the land is mine; with me you are but temporary residents and aliens."

Author: Leviticus 25:23 (NIV)

Benefit: A strong theological statement emphasizing that ultimately, all inhabitants are guests on God's earth, dissolving the idea of absolute national ownership.

"Show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."

Author: 1 Peter 2:17 (ESV)

Benefit: Promotes universal respect for all humanity, regardless of origin, while maintaining specific love for fellow believers and showing deference to authority.

"Let brotherly love continue."

Author: Hebrews 13:1 (KJV)

Benefit: A concise reminder that communal love must be ongoing and sustained, applying to both existing members and newcomers who are treated as family.

These powerful scriptures consistently frame the treatment of immigrants and strangers not just as social policy, but as a central measure of faithfulness and righteousness. By extending justice, hospitality, and love to those newly arrived, communities fulfill a timeless divine mandate and reflect the character of God.