What Does Leviticus 24:22 Mean?
One judgment shall be yours, as for the sojourner, so for the native, for I am the LORD your God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.THE KEY
The law’s measure does not shrink when the person standing before it is a stranger.
THE MEANING
The same judgment applies to the person who belongs by birth and the person who lives among the community as a sojourner. The verse grounds that shared measure in the LORD your God’s own identity, placing both under one authority.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being born elsewhere makes your claim to justice lesser.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-f-t
to judge, decide, or render judgment
Mishpat belongs to the root of judging and deciding: the verse names a shared judgment, not merely shared courtesy. The English phrase “one manner of law” carries the force of one judicial measure for both the resident outsider and the native.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: to judge or render a decision
שָׁפַט
The verb shows the action inside mishpat: applying judgment.
shofet: judge, one who judges
שֹׁפֵט
This branch names the person who applies the shared judicial measure.
גֵּר
ger
GROWS FROM
גור
g-w-r
to sojourn or dwell as a resident outsider
Ger names someone living among the community as a sojourner, not simply someone passing through. Its root connects the stranger with dwelling, so the verse’s shared measure reaches the person who resides among you without native origin.
ALSO GROWS
gur: to sojourn or dwell as a resident outsider
גּוּר
The verb behind ger places the stranger within the community as someone who lives there.
magor: sojourning, dwelling, or residence
מָגוֹר
This related noun keeps the focus on residence: the stranger is living among the people covered by the same judgment.
THE PATTERN
Justice keeps one measure across differences in origin and status.
One instruction and one judgment shall be for you, and for the sojourner who sojourns with you.My brothers, do not hold the trust of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Lord of weight, by receiving faces.Then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I have laid hold of this, that God lifts no one's face.THE THREAD
And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, Hear and respond between your brothers, and judge in alignment between each man and his brother, and the sojourner who is with him.Leviticus’s mishpat, “judgment,” and Deuteronomy’s “judge” both come from שפט (sh-f-t); both verses also name the ger, the resident outsider. Deuteronomy shows the shared measure at work in a hearing: the stranger stands inside the same judgment.
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