πάροικος G3941
A sojourner, resident alien, foreigner; one who dwells in a land not their own without full citizenship.
This adjective-turned-noun (from para, beside, and oikos, house) describes someone living alongside but not truly belonging to a community — a resident alien. Stephen's speech recalls how Abraham's descendants were 'sojourners' in Egypt (Acts 7:6), and Moses became a sojourner in Midian (Acts 7:29). Ephesians 2:19 dramatically reverses the status: Gentile believers are 'no longer strangers and sojourners' but fellow citizens with God's people. First Peter 2:11 reclaims the term positively, urging Christians to live as 'sojourners and exiles' in this world, reorienting their ultimate belonging to heaven.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A sojourner, resident alien, or stranger dwelling in a foreign land without full rights of citizenship. Spanish extranjero/forastero and German Fremdling both emphasize foreignness, while the Greek root para + oikos (beside the house) evokes living on the margins of a household. Acts 7:6 and 7:29 use it historically of Israel in Egypt and Moses in Midian. Ephesians 2:19 transforms it theologically — believers are no longer paroikoi — and 1 Peter 2:11 embraces it as the Christian's proper stance toward the present world. 4×
AR["غَرِيبًا", "غُرَباءَ", "نُزَلاءَ"]·ben["প্রবাসী"]·DE["Fremdling", "πάροικον", "πάροικος"]·EN["a-sojourner", "aliens", "sojourners", "sojourning"]·FR["étranger", "πάροικοι", "παροίκους"]·heb["גֵּר", "גֵּרִים", "גָּר", "תּוֹשָׁבִים"]·HI["परदेशियों", "परदेशी", "मुसफ़िर"]·ID["orang-asing", "pendatang", "pendatang,"]·IT["paroikoi", "paroikous", "residente-straniero"]·jav["ngumbara", "pendatang,", "tiyang-ngumbara"]·KO["나그네-로", "나그네들", "외국인들,"]·PT["estrangeira", "estrangeiro", "forasteiros", "forasteiros,"]·RU["пришельцев", "пришельцем", "пришельцы,"]·ES["a-forasteros", "extranjera", "extranjero", "forasteros"]·SW["mgeni", "wageni", "wakaaji"]·TR["fakat", "garıp", "yabancı", "yabancılar"]·urd["پردیسی", "پردیسیوں"]
Related Senses
H5971a 1. people, nation (1836×)H5973a 1. accompaniment, together with (956×)H0854 1. with (accompaniment) (665×)H1471a 1. nations, peoples (plural/collective) (466×)G3326 1. with (368×)H1285 1. covenant, pact, treaty (284×)G2453 1. Jewish person, Jew (194×)H4150 1. meeting (tent of meeting) (151×)G2992 1. people/nation (an ethnic or political community) (142×)G4862 1. (129×)G1484 1. Gentiles, non-Jewish nations (128×)H1471a 2. nation, people-group (singular) (98×)H3162b 1. together (97×)H1616 1. sojourner, resident alien (92×)H0567 1. Amorite (people group) (87×)H3064 1. Jew, Jewish person (81×)H3669a 1. Canaanite (ethnic designation) (70×)G1122 1. scribe / expert in the Law (63×)H2114a 1. stranger, foreigner (person) (54×)H5608b 1. scribe, royal secretary (48×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
πάροικος, ον, dwelling beside or near, neighbouring, with genitive, Κάδμου πάροικοι.. δόμων Refs 5th c.BC+; neighbour, οὐκ ἀσίνης π. Refs 7th c.BC+; Ἀττικὸς π., proverbial of a restless neighbour, Refs 4th c.BC+ __2 π. πόλεμος war with neighbours, Refs 5th c.BC+ __II foreign, alien, LXX+NT: as substantive, sojourner in another's house, Refs 3rd c.AD+: generally, alien, stranger, LXX: in later Greek, ={μέτοικος}, Refs 3rd c.BC+; = colonus, Refs 4th c.AD+