Bible Verses About Immigration
Introduction
Few topics generate more heat and less light than immigration. It sits at the intersection of politics, economics, national identity, and human dignity, and people across the spectrum claim biblical support for their positions. The Bible does not offer a modern immigration policy. What it does offer is something more foundational — a framework for how God's people are to think about, and treat, those who are foreign, displaced, or far from home.
The biblical story is itself a story of migration. Abraham leaves his homeland at God's command. Jacob's family descends into Egypt as refugees fleeing famine. Israel spends four hundred years as foreigners in a land that eventually enslaves them. Ruth crosses a border as a widow with nothing. Jesus is carried into Egypt as a refugee infant. The people of God have rarely been settled and comfortable. They have more often been moving, displaced, or living as strangers in someone else's land. That history shapes everything Scripture says about how foreigners are to be treated.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Immigration
The Old Testament uses several distinct terms that are often translated interchangeably but carry different meanings. The ger is a resident alien — a foreigner living among the Israelites, often with some legal standing and significant protections under the law. The nokri or zar is a foreigner with less connection to the community, more of a passing stranger or outsider. The distinction matters because the Torah's commands about care and justice are primarily directed toward the ger — the person who has come to live among God's people.
The New Testament broadens the picture further. The Greek paroikos means a resident alien or sojourner, and Christians are described using this word — they are strangers and aliens in the world, which gives them a particular solidarity with those who live that experience literally. The call to welcome the stranger is not merely humanitarian. It is grounded in Israel's own story, in God's character, and in the identity of the people of God as a community that has itself been welcomed by grace.
Bible Verses About God's Care for the Foreigner
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 — ("He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.") God's care for the foreigner is listed alongside his care for the fatherless and widow — the three categories of the most vulnerable in ancient society. The command to love the foreigner is grounded directly in Israel's own experience of displacement.
Leviticus 19:33-34 — ("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.") The standard set here is striking. The foreigner is not to be tolerated or managed. They are to be loved as oneself. The command echoes the second great commandment almost verbatim.
Psalm 146:9 — ("The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.") God is described as personally watching over the foreigner. This is not a peripheral concern. It is part of the character of God that the psalm is celebrating.
Zechariah 7:10 — ("Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.") The prophetic tradition consistently pairs the foreigner with other vulnerable groups as people whose mistreatment is a direct offense against God.
Malachi 3:5 — ("So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigner of justice.") Depriving foreigners of justice is placed in the same category as sorcery, adultery, and fraud. This is not a soft social concern. It is a justice issue that God takes with absolute seriousness.
Bible Verses About Israel's Identity as Foreigners
Exodus 22:21 — ("Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.") This is the single most repeated command in the Torah. The appeal to Israel's own experience is the primary motivation. Empathy born from shared history is the foundation of the ethical obligation.
Leviticus 19:34 — ("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.") Israel's memory of Egypt is not simply historical. It is theological. What God did for them in their vulnerability becomes the template for what they owe to others in theirs.
Deuteronomy 26:5 — ("Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: 'My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.'") This confession, recited at the offering of firstfruits, begins with the acknowledgment that Israel's ancestor was a wandering migrant. The identity of the people of God is rooted in a story of migration.
Genesis 23:4 — ("I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.") Abraham, the father of faith, describes himself as a foreigner and stranger. The entire patriarchal narrative takes place in territory that does not belong to the patriarchs. Displacement is part of their story from the beginning.
1 Chronicles 29:15 — ("We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.") David's prayer acknowledges that even in their own land, Israel stands before God as foreigners — dependent, temporary, sustained only by his generosity.
Bible Verses About Welcoming the Stranger
Matthew 25:35 — ("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 invited me in.") Jesus identifies himself with the stranger who needs to be welcomed. The word translated stranger here is xenos — foreigner, alien, someone from outside. The welcome extended to the foreigner is received by Jesus as done to himself.
Matthew 25:43 — ("I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.") The failure to welcome the stranger is treated with the same gravity as the failure to feed the hungry or clothe the naked. It is not a neutral omission. It is a failure of the love that defines Christ's followers.
Hebrews 13:2 — ("Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.") The reference to angels points to Abraham's welcome of the three visitors in Genesis 18. The principle is that the stranger at the door may carry more significance than they appear to. Hospitality toward the unknown is a practice of faith.
Romans 12:13 — ("Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.") The word translated practice here means to pursue or chase after. Hospitality is not a passive response to opportunity. It is something actively sought out.
Leviticus 23:22 — ("When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.") The gleaning laws built care for foreigners directly into Israel's economic practices. The foreigner was not simply to be tolerated. They were to have access to the resources that sustained life.
Bible Verses About Equal Justice for the Foreigner
Leviticus 24:22 — ("You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.") Equal application of the law to citizens and foreigners alike is a direct command. The foreigner is not to be subject to a different or lesser standard of justice.
Deuteronomy 1:16 — ("Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.") Judges in Israel were explicitly commanded to apply the same standard to cases involving foreigners. Partiality based on national origin was a corruption of justice.
Deuteronomy 27:19 — ("Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.") Withholding justice from the foreigner carries a curse. This is not a minor infraction. It is a violation of the covenant community's core commitments.
Ezekiel 47:22-23 — ("You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.") In Ezekiel's vision of the restored land, foreigners with families are to receive an inheritance alongside native Israelites. The inclusion is comprehensive and deliberate.
Numbers 15:15-16 — ("The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD.") Same rules, same standing before God. The principle of equality before God cuts across national distinctions with remarkable consistency throughout the Torah.
Bible Verses About the Church as a Community of Welcome
Galatians 3:28 — ("There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.") The ethnic and national distinctions that divided humanity are relativized in Christ. The church is by definition a community that crosses the lines that divide the world.
Ephesians 2:19 — ("Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.") Paul uses the language of immigration and citizenship to describe what happens when a Gentile comes to faith. The one who was a foreigner is brought in, given citizenship, made part of the household. The theological reality shapes the practical ethic.
Revelation 7:9 — ("After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.") The final vision of Scripture is a gathered humanity from every national and ethnic background. The diversity is not erased in heaven. It is celebrated. The nations bring their distinctiveness into the presence of God.
Acts 10:34-35 — ("Then Peter began to speak: 'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.'") Peter's awakening in Acts 10 is a paradigm-shifting moment. The gospel crosses the ethnic boundary between Jew and Gentile, and Peter names the principle: God does not show favoritism based on national origin.
Luke 10:29-37 — ("But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' ... 'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?'") The Good Samaritan parable is in part a story about crossing ethnic and national boundaries to show mercy. The neighbor is not defined by proximity or shared identity. The neighbor is whoever is in need, and the one who acts as neighbor is whoever responds with mercy — regardless of origin.
A Note on the Complexity of the Topic
Scripture speaks clearly about the dignity and protection owed to foreigners and the call to welcome the stranger. It does not speak directly to modern questions of immigration policy, border enforcement, legal categories, or national sovereignty. Christians of good faith disagree about how biblical principles translate into specific policy positions, and those disagreements involve genuine complexity about competing goods. What Scripture does not allow is indifference to the humanity and vulnerability of those who are displaced, foreign, or far from home. The policy questions are genuinely hard. The call to love the stranger is not.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Deuteronomy 10:19 — ("Love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.") Response: "Remind me of my own story when I am tempted to forget theirs."
Matthew 25:35 — ("I was a stranger and you invited me in.") Response: "Open my eyes to the strangers around me. Let me see you in them."
Ephesians 2:19 — ("No longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens.") Response: "You welcomed me when I was outside. Let that shape how I welcome others."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about immigration? The Bible does not address modern immigration policy directly, but it speaks extensively about how foreigners and strangers are to be treated. The Torah commands Israel to love the foreigner as themselves, to apply equal justice regardless of national origin, and to remember their own history as displaced people in Egypt. Jesus identifies himself with the stranger who needs welcome (Matthew 25:35), and the New Testament presents the church as a community that crosses all ethnic and national boundaries.
What does the Bible say about loving immigrants? Leviticus 19:34 commands love for the foreigner in almost identical terms to the command to love one's neighbor. Deuteronomy 10:18-19 grounds this love in God's own care for the foreigner and in Israel's memory of being foreigners themselves. The consistent standard across both Testaments is that the foreigner is to be treated with the same dignity and care as a native member of the community.
Does the Bible support open borders or strict immigration control? Scripture does not map onto either modern position directly. The Old Testament does distinguish between types of foreigners and implies that communities have some ordering principles. But the overwhelming thrust of the biblical material is not about control or restriction. It is about care, justice, and welcome. Christians across the political spectrum appeal to Scripture in these debates, and genuine disagreement exists about how biblical principles apply to modern policy questions.
Why does the Bible care about foreigners and strangers? Several reasons emerge from Scripture. God himself cares for the vulnerable, and foreigners are consistently grouped with widows and orphans as people in need of protection. Israel's own history as foreigners in Egypt gives them a particular obligation of empathy. Jesus identifies himself with the stranger in need of welcome. And the New Testament vision of the church is a community that crosses every human boundary, anticipating the final gathering of all nations before God.
How does the Good Samaritan parable relate to immigration? The parable does not address immigration directly, but it speaks to the question of who counts as a neighbor and what crossing boundaries to show mercy looks like. The Samaritan — an ethnic and religious outsider — becomes the model of neighborly love. The parable consistently pushes against defining the neighbor narrowly or limiting compassion to those who share one's identity or background.
