What Does Deuteronomy 10:19 Mean in the King James?
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The stranger before you carries the same name as the stranger you once were.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as someone who knows what it is to live as a stranger. That remembered narrowness makes the outsider before you part of your own story: love reaches them from the place where you know what it is to need room.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an outsider’s welcome is someone else’s responsibility dissolves: the verse roots it in the vulnerability you already know.
THE ROOT
הַגֵּר
ha-ger
GROWS FROM
גור
To sojourn or dwell among a people as an outsider.
“stranger” in this verse is ha-ger. The verse repeats ger in gerim: the person before you and the people remembering their own outsiderhood carry the same name. The reason clause traces this recognition through Mitzrayim, the constricted place, making remembered narrowness the ground of welcome.
ALSO GROWS
ger: A resident outsider, one living among a people without native standing.
גֵּר
This is the person the verse asks you to love.
gerim: Sojourners or resident outsiders (plural).
גֵּרִים
The verse uses the same word for the stranger before you and the condition you remember.
וַאֲהַבְתֶּם
va’ahavtem
GROWS FROM
אהב
To love or hold dear.
The verb belongs to the same root as ahavah (“love”) and ohev (“one who loves”); here love is directed toward a particular person, the ger. The “because” clause ties that love to remembered outsiderhood.
ALSO GROWS
ahavah: Love or affection.
אַהֲבָה
It names the same relation as a noun, while the verse makes that relation active toward the stranger.
ohev: One who loves.
אֹהֵב
It names the person in the relationship, linking love to how the stranger is received.
THE PATTERN
The outsider’s place among you is shaped by whether their need is recognized as part of your own life.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:THE THREAD
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.Deuteronomy repeats ger in the singular and plural; Exodus says you know the heart of a ger because you were gerim. The shared word reveals that the stranger’s vulnerability is legible through a condition you already carry.
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