Exodus 23:9
Read Exodus 23:9 Using Other Translations
What does Exodus 23:9 mean?
Also thou shall not oppress a stranger
As these were not to be vexed and oppressed in a private manner
and by private men, see ( Exodus 22:21
) so neither in a public manner, and in a public court of
judicature, or by judges on the bench when their cause was before
them, by not doing them justice, showing a partiality to those of
their own nation against a stranger; whereas a stranger ought to
have equal justice done him as a native, and the utmost care
should be taken that he has no injury done him, and the rather
because he is a stranger:
for ye know the heart of a stranger;
the fears he is possessed of, the inward distress of his soul,
the anxiety of his mind, the tenderness of his heart, the
workings of his passions, his grief and sorrow, and dejection of
spirit: the Targum of Jonathan is,
``"the groaning of the soul of a stranger": this the Israelitish judges knew, having had a very late experience of it:''seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt;
where they had been vexed and oppressed, brought into hard bondage, and groaned under it; and therefore it might be reasonably thought and expected that they would have a heart sympathizing with strangers, and use them well, and especially see that justice was done them, and no injury or oppression of any kind.
