You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
Parallel Translations
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You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
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Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
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(23-8) Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.
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Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 23:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 22:21 “You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 10:19 Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 23:9 “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- Leviticus 19:34 The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
- Genesis 25:24-26 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
- Genesis 25:30 Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
- Numbers 20:14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
- Genesis 45:17-18 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’
- Genesis 46:7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
- Genesis 47:6 The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
- Genesis 47:12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
- Genesis 47:27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
- Psalms 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham.
- Obadiah 1:10-12 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress.
- Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says Yahweh. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob;
- Acts 7:10-18 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh. Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers, and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem. “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for…
Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he [is] thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Ver. 7. For he is thy brother.] And therefore to be borne with, though unkind and injurious. Howbeit, Fratrum concordia rara est: "A brother offended is harder to be won," saith the wise man, "than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle." {Pro 18:19} The dissension between England and Scotland consumed more Christian blood, wrought more spoil and destruction, and continued longer than ever quarrel we read of did between any two peoples of the world. {a} The God of Peace prevent the like bloody dissensions again, now mightily endeavoured by the boutefeaus of both nations. Si collidimur, frangimur, If we clash, we perish: dissension is the mother of dissolution, of desolation.
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Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian.] But learn of him to return one good turn for another. Egyptii dicuntur, praeter alias nationes, erga bene meritos de se grati; Existimant enim magnum vitae subsidium esse, gratiae retributionem, saith Diodorus. {b} The Egyptians are said to be, above all others, a thankful people, and to look upon thankfulness as a main support of man’s life.
Because thou wast a stranger in his land.] Where, though thou meetest with much hardship, yet thou hadst kind entertainment at first, and after that a subsistence, such as it was. Our Henry VI is said to have been of that happy memory, that he never forgot anything but injuries. Elisha, by a noble revenge, bade set bread and water before the Syrians that came to surprise him.
{a} Daniel’s Hist., 191.
{b} Diod. Sic., lib. i.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain An Edomite; the children of Edom; only the Amalekites…
An Edomite; the children of Edom; only the Amalekites are excepted by God’s particular order, and upon special reason, Deu 25:17-19.
Thy brother, by Esau, Jacob’s brother.
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Thou wast a stranger in his land, and didst receive habitation, protection, and provision from them a long time, which kindness thou must not forget for their following persecution. It is ordinary with great men and others, that one injury or offence blots out the remembrance of twenty courtesies; but God doth not deal so with us, nor will he have us to deal so with others, but commands us to overlook and forget injuries, and to remember kindnesses.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thou shall not abhor an Edomite,.... Or an Idumean,…
Thou shall not abhor an Edomite,.... Or an Idumean, the descendants of Esau, whose name was Edom, Gen 25:30 the Targum of Jonathan adds, "that comes to be made a proselyte"; he was not to be rejected with abhorrence, because of the old grudge between Jacob and Esau, and which was become national in their posterity:
for he is thy brother; the Israelites and the Edomites were nearest akin to each other of all the nations; for Jacob and Esau were own brothers by father's and mother's side, yea, were twin brothers; the relation was very near:
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thou shall not abhor an Egyptian; that comes to be made a proselyte also, as the same Targum; though the Israelites were so ill used by them, their lives made bitter with hard bondage, and their male infants slain by them, and they for a long time refused their liberty to depart:
because thou wast a stranger in his land: and at first received many favours and kindnesses from them, being supported and supplied with provisions during a long famine; and had one of the richest and most fruitful parts of the country assigned them to dwell in; and old favours were not to be forgotten, though they had been followed with great unkindness and cruelty.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thou wast a stranger - And didst receive habitation,…
Thou wast a stranger - And didst receive habitation, protection and provision from them a long time, which kindness thou must not forget for their following persecution. It is ordinary with men, that one injury blots out the remembrance of twenty courtesies; but God doth not deal so with us, nor will he have us to deal so with others, but commands us to forget injuries, and to remember kindnesses.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 23:7-8. Thou wast a stranger — And didst…
Deu 23:7-8. Thou wast a stranger — And didst receive habitation, protection, and provision from them a long time, which kindness thou must not forget for their following persecution. It is ordinary with men that one injury blots out the remembrance of twenty favours. But God doth not deal so with us, nor will he have us to deal so with others, but commands us to forget injuries, and to remember kindnesses. In the third generation — When they had been proselytes to the true religion for three generations, they might be incorporated with the Jewish community. And, according to the Hebrew masters, the grand-children are the third generation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Edomite, as descended from Esau the twin brother…
The Edomite, as descended from Esau the twin brother of Jacob (compare Deu 2:4), and the Egyptian, as of that nation which had for long shown hospitality to Joseph and his brethren, were not to be objects of abhorrence. The oppression of the Egyptians was perhaps regarded as the act of the Pharaohs rather than the will of the people Exo 11:2-3; and at any rate was not to cancel the memory of preceding hospitality.
Deu 23:8
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In their third generation - i. e. the great grandchildren of the Edomite or Egyptian alien: compare the similar phrase in Exo 20:5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Brother. Esau and Jacob were twins. --- Land. The…
Brother. Esau and Jacob were twins. --- Land. The Egyptians had for some time afforded the Hebrews an asylum in their country, and though the kings of late had persecuted them, the people seem not to have entered into the views of their rulers, and spared the male children notwithstanding their cruel edicts. They gave them also very rich presents before their departure, Exodus xii. 35. Gratitude required that these things should be considered, (Haydock) and God orders his people generously to pass over the subsequent ill treatment of these two nations.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite — The…
7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite — The Edomites, descendants of Esau, twin brother of Jacob, held closer relations to Israel.
Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian — The memory of the favours shown to Jacob and his sons in Egypt may have been a reason for this command. The oppression which the nation endured in Egypt may have been ascribed to the Egyptian king.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite . .…
(7) Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite . . . an Egyptian.—The contrast between these and the Moabite and Ammonite is drawn rather well by Rashi in this passace. “Learn here,” he says, “that he who makes a man to sin, treats him worse than he who kills-him; for he that kills, kills only in this world, but he who causes him to sin, banishes him both from this world and from the world to come. Edom, therefore who met them with the sword (Num_21:18; Num_21:20) they must not abhor; nor, again, Egypt, that would have drowned them (Exo_1:22); but those who made them to sin are to be abhorred of them, because of the counsel wherewith they counselled them to cause them to sin.” The counsel of Balaam and the whoredoms of Moab are referred to; the Midianites who joined in this effort had been chastised already (Numbers 31).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain It was to be otherwise with the Edomite and…
It was to be otherwise with the Edomite and the Egyptian; though the former had refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land, and the latter had oppressed and wronged the nation, yet as the former were connected with Israel by a bond of kindredfor he is thy brother and the latter had received Israel to sojourn in their land, where, notwithstanding the oppression which clouded the later times of their sojourn, they had reaped many benefits, they were not to abhor these nations or place them under a ban of perpetual exclusion; descendants in the third generation of an Edomite or Egyptian might be naturalized in Israel.
Vers. 7, 8. Terminable chastisements.
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The sting in God"s curse is its irreversibleness. The bitter draught is dashed with mercy when we have prospect that it shall cease.
I THE CONDUCT OF SOME MEN IS A STRANGE ADMIXTURE OF GOOD AND BAD. There were some fine traits in Esau"s character commingled with coarse and selfish obstinacy. Light was interfused with darkness. The treatment of Israel by the Edomites was not the most friendly, nor was it decidedly hostile. It was marked by haughty reserve rather than by malignant hostility. So also the Egyptians were not wholly antagonistic to Israel. For more than four hundred years the Hebrews had found sustenance and shelter in Goshen. If the last Pharaoh had oppressed them with bitter bondage, a former Pharaoh had blest them with unusual kindness. From desolating famine, Egypt had shielded them. This shall not be forgotten; it shall temper chastisement. The remoter peoples shall be admitted to God"s kingdom, while those nearer at hand shall be excluded.
II SUCH CONDUCT RECEIVES DUE MEASURE OF CHASTISEMENT. It is impossible to entertain the best feelings of affection towards such persons. Yet we are to be just in our estimate of them. We are not to fasten our eyes only on the dark side of their characters. As far as it is possible we should be generous in feeling. "Thou shalt not abhor them." The present generation of such, and their children, shall be excluded from the privileges of the righteous. But there the ban shall terminate. If children of wisdom, we shall endure such chastisement with patient resignation
For patient suffering is the link That binds us to a glorious morrow.
III THE INHERITANCE OF BLESSING IS IN REVERSION. "Weeping may endure for a night: joy cometh in the morning." The night is temporary; the day will be eternal. However dark be their present lot under the frown of Jehovah, the light of hope shines beyond lights up the future. We live in our children. It alleviates our present burden when we are assured that our children shall be exempt. More often should we stand in awe of sin, if we did but perceive the miseries we were entailing on posterity. The revelations of the future are a valuable guide for the present. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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You must not detest an Edomite
"Do not hate an Edomite"
for he is your brother
"because he is your relative"
you must not abhor an Egyptian
"do not hate an Egyptian"
The descendants of the third generation that are born to them may belong to the assembly of Yahweh
This "third" is the ordinal number for three. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "If an Edomite or an Egyptian comes to live in the Israelite community, his grandchildren may become full members of that community" (See: Ordinal Numbers and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Edom
Egypt
alien
descend
generation
assembly
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 23:7 The Edomites were descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau…
23:7 The Edomites were descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau (see 2:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.