If she does not please ¹  her master, who has designated her ²  for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. ³  He has no right ⁴  to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully ⁵  with her.

But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. ¹  We will travel on to Gibeah.”

Ruth ¹  knelt before him with her forehead to the ground ²  and said to him, “Why are you so kind ³  and so attentive to me, ⁴  even though ⁵  I am a foreigner?” ⁶ 

“Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. ¹ 

King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹  and from these foreign wives.”

It was determined ¹  that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying ¹  foreign wives?”

Indeed, O Lord, ¹  you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. For diviners from the east are everywhere; ²  they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. ³  Plenty of foreigners are around. ⁴ 

For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ¹  he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ²  to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task. ³ 

You stood aloof ¹  while strangers took his army ²  captive, and foreigners advanced to his gates. ³  When they cast lots ⁴  over Jerusalem, ⁵  you behaved as though you were in league ⁶  with them.

You should not ¹  have gloated ²  when your relatives ³  suffered calamity. ⁴  You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. ⁵  You should not have boasted ⁶  when they suffered adversity. ⁷ 

“On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes ¹  and the king’s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ² 

You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages ¹  and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. ² 

you must select without fail ¹  a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens ²  you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. ³ 

You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.

The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see ¹  the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come with us? Go back and stay with the new ¹  king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own country. ² 

“Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation ¹  and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; ²  they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.