גֵּר

From the study of Leviticus 25:35

Range of meaning

A resident outsider: someone who has left his own clan or land and lives among another people without the rights of an inherited landholder. Examples are Abraham among the Hittites (Gen 23:4), Moses in Midian (Exod 2:22) and Israel in Egypt (Exod 22:21 [20]). The gēr was legally vulnerable and is regularly listed with the widow and the orphan as someone needing protection (Deut 10:18; 24:17). It is different from nokrî, a foreigner simply passing through or belonging elsewhere.

Against the English

KJV 'stranger' to a modern ear means an unknown person. BSB/NIV 'foreigner' blurs the distinction from nokrî. 'Sojourner' (ESV) is accurate but archaic. 'Resident alien' or 'immigrant' is closest.

How it drifted

'Stranger' in 1611 could mean someone from elsewhere. It now mostly means someone you have not met, which loses the legal and social status the word carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint usually translates gēr as prosēlytos (here 'as a proselyte'). By then the word was moving toward meaning a religious convert, which is a later development. Ancient Near Eastern laws also distinguished landed citizens from dependent outsiders.

From the study of Isaiah 14:1

Range of meaning

A resident alien: someone from outside the clan or people who has settled for a long time in a community where he has no ancestral land and no full kin rights. Such a person depended on local protection and is often listed with the widow and orphan (Deut 10:18; 24:17). Torah law gave the gēr Sabbath rest (Exod 20:10), legal protection, and, if circumcised, the Passover (Exod 12:48). Israel's ancestors were themselves gērîm in Egypt (Exod 22:21; Deut 10:19).

Against the English

KJV's "strangers" now suggests someone unknown or unfamiliar. The gēr was well known, a neighbour, but legally an outsider. "Foreigner" (BSB, WEB) is closer, but it can hide the fact that this person already lives among Israel. "Sojourner" (ESV) or "resident alien" is most accurate.

How it drifted

In English "stranger" shifted from "foreigner" (its sense in 1611) to "unfamiliar person." Separately, in later Judaism gēr came to mean a formal convert (proselyte), a meaning that grew out of passages like this one but should not be assumed for Isaiah's time.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint usually translates gēr as prosēlytos, "one who has come over." Here it uses the rarer geiōras, a loanword from Aramaic gīyōrā. Both choices show that by the 3rd to 2nd century BC Jewish translators read this verse as being about outsiders who joined the community. The Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g. CD 14:4–6) list the gēr as a recognised group within the community. Rabbinic usage makes gēr the standard word for a convert.

From the study of Jeremiah 22:3

Range of meaning

From gur, 'to sojourn, dwell as an outsider'. A ger is a person or family living long-term outside their own clan territory, with no inherited land, often working as a dependent laborer. They were free, but had no kin network to defend them in court. A ger could be a non-Israelite or even a displaced Israelite (a Levite is called a ger in Judg 17:7). Distinct from the nokri, a foreigner passing through or keeping his foreign ties.

Against the English

'Foreigner' (BSB, NIV, WEB) suggests any foreign national, including a tourist or a wealthy trader. 'Stranger' (KJV, NASB) suggests someone you don't know. 'Sojourner' (YLT) or 'resident alien' (ESV) is closer: an outsider who lives among you and depends on you.

How it drifted

The Septuagint often translated ger as prosēlytos. In Second Temple Judaism that word came to mean a religious convert, which pulled the term toward religious identity.

Used elsewhere in the period

The triad 'sojourner, fatherless, widow' is a fixed formula of Deuteronomy (Deut 10:18; 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17-21; 26:12-13; 27:19). Jeremiah repeats it almost word for word in the Temple Sermon (Jer 7:6). Exod 22:21 uses the same verb as here: 'You shall not mistreat (tonu) a ger, for you were gerim in Egypt.' Ezekiel 22:7 indicts Jerusalem with the same three groups and the same verb.