Bible Strands
Exodus 22:21
You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel through Moses, placing this command immediately after the penalty for idolatry and before the protection of widows and orphans. The directive functions as a boundary marker within the covenant law for the newly formed nation.
The words — The Hebrew uses תוֹנֶ֖ה (to.Neh) for maltreatment and תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ (til.cha.Tze.nu) for oppression, both directed at the גֵר (ger), a foreign resident or sojourner. The causal conjunction כִּי (ki) introduces the stated reason: גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם (gerim hyitem), "you were sojourners."
The thread — The command appears in Exodus 23:9, Deuteronomy 10:19, and Leviticus 19:33. Each passage restates the prohibition against oppressing the foreign resident, with Exodus 23:9 and Deuteronomy 10:19 explicitly citing Israel’s former Egyptian sojourn as the basis for the command.
Why it lands — The text commands the cessation of exploitation toward non-Israelites living among the people. It grounds the ethical requirement in a historical reality: the recipients of the law previously occupied the same status as those now under protection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:9 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.
- Deuteronomy 10:19 So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Leviticus 19:33 When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.
- Zechariah 7:10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
- Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Leviticus 25:35 Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.
- Deuteronomy 23:7 Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
- Jeremiah 7:6 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,
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 15:15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.