Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly; he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes.

So then, show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners in Egypt.

So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. "Please bring me a drink of water," he said to her.

She answered, "By the living LORD your God I swear that I don't have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death."

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the LORD, send rain.' "

As the LORD had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

One day Elisha went to Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She invited him to a meal, and from then on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house.

When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes,

I invited travelers into my home and never let them sleep in the streets.

Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes,

I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.'

After she and the people of her house had been baptized, she invited us, "Come and stay in my house if you have decided that I am a true believer in the Lord." And she persuaded us to go.

Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers.

My host Gaius, in whose house the church meets, sends you his greetings; Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife, be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach;

and have a reputation for good deeds: a woman who brought up her children well, received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for other Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.

He must be hospitable and love what is good. He must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

Open your homes to each other without complaining.

he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground,

Let me bring some water for you to wash your feet; you can rest here beneath this tree.

Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread."

He took some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, and they ate.

One of them said, "Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening.

When the two angels came to Sodom that evening, Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon as he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before them

He kept on urging them, and finally they went with him to his house. Lot ordered his servants to bake some bread and prepare a fine meal for the guests. When it was ready, they ate it.

Not knowing that it was the LORD's angel, Manoah said to him, "Please do not go yet. Let us cook a young goat for you." But the angel said, "If I do stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to the LORD."

Manoah replied, "Tell us your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true."

So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to the LORD who works wonders.

(SEE 13:20)

But his wife answered, "If the LORD had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our offerings; he would not have shown us all this or told us such things at this time."

And the LORD's power began to strengthen him while he was between Zorah and Eshtaol in the Camp of Dan.

The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'