Loving neighbours and enemies

28 Then one of the religious teachers who had heard their question and Yeshua’s (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) excellent answer, came closer and asked, “Which of God’s commands is the most important?”

29 “Well,” Yeshua answered, “the most important is this: ‘Listen, Yisrael (Israel). Our God Yahweh is our master. 30 You must love Yahweh God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind and all your strength.’[ref] 31 And the second is: ‘Love your neighbour like you look after yourself.’[ref] There’s no other commands more important than these.”

32 The teacher replied to Yeshua, “Yes, teacher, you’re quite right saying there’s only one God and no other,[ref] 33 and saying that we should love him with all our heart and all our intelligence and all our strength, and to be loving our neighbours like we look after ourselves, and all this is more important than all the required temple offerings and sacrifices.”[ref]

34 When Yeshua saw that he’d given such a thoughtful answer, he said, “You’re very close to God’s kingdom!”[ref]

After that, no one else dared to ask Yeshua any more questions.

25 Then look, a lawyer stood up to test him, asking, “Teacher, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life?”[ref]

26 “Well, what’s written in the scriptures?” responded Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus). “How do you understand them?”

27 “You must love your God Yahweh with all your heart and all your soul, and all your strength and all your mind,”[ref] he replied. “Also, you must love your neighbour as yourself.”[ref]

28 “You’ve answered correctly,” answered Yeshua, “so do that and you’ll live forever.”[ref]

29 But the lawyer wanted to justify his lifestyle, so he asked, “And who’s my neighbour?”

30 Yeshua replied with this: “Once a Jewish man was walking downhill from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) to Yeriho (Jericho) when a group of robbers grabbed him and took everything including his clothes, then took off leaving him there wounded and half-dead. 31 Then it so happened that a priest came down that same road, but when he saw him he continued past on the other side of the road. 32 Similarly, a priestly worker (a Levite) arrived at that place and when he saw him he too passed by on the other side. 33 Then a man from Shomron (Samaria)[fn] who was on a trip came across him, and when he saw him he felt sorry for him 34 and went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring olive oil and wine on them, then put him on his own animal and took him to a roadhouse and looked after him.[ref] 35 The next day he took out two coins and gave them to their host, instructing, ‘Look after this guy and if it costs more than this, I’ll reimburse you on my way back.’

36 “So which of those three do you think acted like the neighbour of the one attacked by robbers?”

37 “The one who cared for him,” replied the lawyer.

“Then you go and do the same,” Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) told him.

38 “You’ve all heard it said that it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,[ref] 39 but I’m telling you not to resist those who want to hurt you. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn your left cheek towards them, 40 and to the person suing you in court and claiming your robe, let them have your coat as well. 41 And if someone forces you to walk a mile, walk two miles with them. 42 Give whatever others request from you, and don’t turn away from anyone who wants to borrow from you.

43 “You’ve all heard it said that you should love your neighbour and hate your enemy, 44 but I’m telling you to love your enemies and to pray for anyone who’s persecuting you, 45 so that you might become children of your father in the heavens, because he causes his sun to rise on both evil and good people, and sends the rain for both godly and ungodly people. 46 If you people just love people who love you, what reward would you expect for that? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? 47 And if you’re only polite to your own circle, how is that achieving anything? Aren’t non-Jews just the same? 48 Instead you should all aim to be perfect just like your heavenly father is perfect.[ref]

27 “But I’ll tell all of you who are listening: Love your enemies and be kind to those who hate you. 28 Give a blessing to those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. 29 When someone slaps you on the face, offer them the other side, and when someone forces you to hand over your coat, don’t resist if they want your shirt as well. 30 Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes your stuff, don’t go demanding it back. 31 However you’d all like people to treat you, that’s how you should be treating them.[ref]

32 “And if you only love those who love you, how good is that? Even those who disobey God love those who love them. 33 If you only do good things to people who are good to you, how good is that? Even those who disobey God do that. 34 And if you only lend money to people that you’re expecting to repay you, how good is that? Even those who disobey God lend to others like them, knowing they’ll get their money back. 35 Instead, you all should love your enemies and do good and lend out even when you expect to get nothing back. Then your reward will be large and you’ll all be children of the highest God because he is good to ungrateful and evil people. 36 You should be compassionate towards others, because your father is compassionate.

6 What should I bring to Yahweh,

≈ as I bow down to the high God?

Should I come to him with burnt offerings,

≈ with year-old calves?

7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams,

≈ or with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Should I sacrifice my oldest child to pay for my disobedience—

≈ my biological offspring to pay for my own sin?

8 He has told humanity what is good,

≈ and what Yahweh requires from you:

Act justly,

love kindness,

and walk humbly with your god.[ref]

2 My dear brothers and sisters, as you live out your faith in our honoured master Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) the messiah, don’t show favouritism to others. 2 For example, if a man in nicely cut clothes and wearing an expensive gold ring came into to your meeting as well as a poor man in filthy clothes 3 and you told the well-dressed one, ‘You sit here in this good chair,’ while telling the poor man, ‘You stand over here,’ or ‘You sit here on the mat,’ 4 wouldn’t that discrimination show that you have judged them with evil motives. 5 Listen my dear brothers and sisters, didn’t God chose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and participants in the kingdom which he promises to those who love him? 6 But you dishonour the poor, even though it’s the wealthier people who oppress you and bring court cases against you. 7 And aren’t they the ones who slander the very God that you pray to?

8 However if you are obeying the golden law, then when you love your neighbour as yourself,[ref] you’ll be doing well according to the scriptures. 9 But if you’re showing favouritism, then you’re all sinning by breaking the law. 10 Because anyone who tries to keep the law but slips up in one area, they’re still guilty of breaking the law. 11 The same God who said, ‘Don’t commit adultery,’[ref] also said, ‘Don’t murder,’[ref] so if you’re not committing adultery but you murder someone, then you’ve broken the law. 12 So speak and live your life knowing that you’re going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgement will be dispensed without mercy to those who haven’t been putting mercy into practice. Yes, mercy wins out over judgement.

14 My fellow believers, what would I gain if I said that someone had faith but it didn’t alter how they live their life? Faith like that wouldn’t be able to save them. 15 If a fellow believer is lacking clothes or food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace and be warm and satisfied,’ but don’t help with their physical needs, what use would that be? 17 In other words, faith without the corresponding lifestyle is just dead.

11 Yes, this is the message that you all heard from the beginning: to be loving each other[ref]—12 not living like Kayin (Cain) who belonged to the evil one and went on to murder his brother.[ref] And why did he kill him? Because his own actions were evil, but his brother Hevel (Abel) followed God’s instructions.

13 And friends, don’t be surprised if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have transferred from death to life because we are loving our fellow believers. Anyone who doesn’t love others is stuck in death.[ref] 15 Everyone who hates another person is a murderer, and you all know that murderers don’t have eternal life in them. 16 We know about real love because we saw that Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) gave up his life for us, and we should give up our lives for our fellow believers. 17 But anyone who’s enjoying being alive and notices that a fellow believer is in need yet shuts that other believer’s needs out of their conscience, how can God’s love be living in that person? 18 So you new believers, don’t just proclaim that you’re loving people, but actually demonstrate it in actions and in fact.