Deuteronomy 10:19

The context

Moses recounts the covenant at Horeb, the golden calf, and the second tablets. He describes God as one who executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Verse 19 draws the inference: the same love is required of Israel.

What it establishes

It establishes a duty of love toward the resident foreigner, grounded in Israel's own experience of being aliens in Egypt. The command is not charity at a distance; the stranger lives among them and is named alongside the orphan and widow as a person God defends.

What it does not establish

It does not settle modern immigration policy. The verse commands treatment of the foreigner who is already resident; it does not legislate borders or admissions. Nor is the obligation limited to fellow Israelites, which is the point of the grounding clause: they too had been outsiders with no claim.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• So you believe in a book full of contradictions, one that endorses slavery, incest, murder, drowning babies, genocide and stoning homosexuals?

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