¹⁵ “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.^{(A) 16} You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand idly by when the blood^[a] of your neighbor is at stake: I am the Lord.^(B)

¹⁷ “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.^{(C) 18} You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.^(D)

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.^{(A) 53} Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?^{(B) 54} But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?”^(C)

¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God,^[a] for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”^{(A) 20} Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

⁴ Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant^{(A) 5} or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs;^{(B) 6} it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.^{(C) 7} It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.^(D)

²⁶ Be angry but do not sin;^[a] do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and do not make room for the devil. ²⁸ Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. ²⁹ Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up,^[b] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

Hearing and Doing the Word

¹⁹ You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,^{(A) 20} for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.^[a]

⁹ Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.^{(A) 10} Whoever loves a brother or sister abides in the light, and in such a person^[a] there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹ But whoever hates a brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.^(B)

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death.^{(A) 15} All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.^{(B) 16} We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.^(C)

¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹ We love^[a] because he first loved us. ²⁰ Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.^{(A) 21} The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.