Jeremiah 14:8

14:8 You have been the object of Israel’s hopes.

You have saved them when they were in trouble.

Why have you become like a resident foreigner ¹  in the land?

Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

Jeremiah 7:6

7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ²  Stop killing innocent people ³  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ⁴  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 22:3

22:3 The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those ⁶  who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. ⁷  Do not kill innocent people ⁸  in this land.

¹ tn It would be a mistake to translate this word as “stranger.” This word (גֵּר, ger) refers to a resident alien or resident foreigner who stays in a country not his own. He is accorded the privilege of protection through the common rights of hospitality but he does not have the rights of the native born or citizen. The simile here is particularly effective. The land was the Lord’s land; they were but resident foreigners and tenants on it (Lev 25:23). Jeremiah’s complaint here is particularly bold. For further information on the status of “resident foreigners” see IDB 4:397-99 s.v. “Sojourner.”

² tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

³ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

⁴ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

⁵ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

³ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

⁴ tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.

⁵ tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”