Unlawful Sexual Relations
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, lI am the Lord your God. 3 mYou shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules1 and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; nif a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
9 q“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
11 r“You shall not steal; syou shall not deal falsely; tyou shall not lie to one another. 12 uYou shall not swear vby my name falsely, and so wprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 “You shall not xoppress your neighbor or yrob him. zThe wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or aput a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall bfear your God: I am the Lord.
15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be cpartial to the poor or defer to the great, but din righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life1 of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 “You shall not ehate your brother in your heart, but you shall freason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take gvengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but hyou shall love your neighbor ias yourself: I am the Lord.
O Lord, Be Gracious to Me
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 lBlessed is the one who considers the poor!1
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
you do not mgive him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health.2
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
nheal me,3 for oI have sinned against you!”
5 My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
while his heart gathers iniquity;
when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.4
8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out5 on him;
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
pwho ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
11 By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
13 qBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
rAmen and Amen.
Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and bfaithful brothers1 in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 cWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since dwe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the ehope flaid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the gword of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed hin the whole world it is ibearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you jheard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from kEpaphras our beloved fellow servant.2 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your3 behalf 8 and has made known to us your llove in the Spirit.
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have mnot ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge nof his will in oall spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to pwalk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: qbearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being rstrengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks4 to the Father, who has qualified you5 to share in the sinheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has tdelivered us from the udomain of darkness and vtransferred us to the kingdom of his wbeloved Son, 14 in whom we have xredemption, the yforgiveness of sins.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 qAnd behold, a lawyer stood up to rput him to the test, saying, “Teacher, swhat shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, t“You shall ulove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, vand your wneighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; xdo this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to yjustify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a zpriest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two adenarii1 and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
