Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Other Laws
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell all the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God. You must be holy because I am holy.
15 “‘Be fair in your judging. You must not show special favor to poor people or great people. You must be fair when you judge your neighbor. 16 You must not spread false stories against other people. You must not do anything that would put your neighbor’s life in danger. I am the Lord.
17 “‘You must not hate your brother in your heart. If your neighbor does something wrong, tell him about it. If you do not, you will be partly to blame. 18 Forget about the wrong things people do to you. You must not try to get even. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
Book 1
Psalms 1—41
Two Ways to Live
1 Happy is the person who doesn’t listen to the wicked.
He doesn’t go where sinners go.
He doesn’t do what bad people do.
2 He loves the Lord’s teachings.
He thinks about those teachings day and night.
3 He is strong, like a tree planted by a river.
It produces fruit in season.
Its leaves don’t die.
Everything he does will succeed.
4 But wicked people are not like that.
They are like useless chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.
Sinners will not worship God with good people.
6 This is because the Lord protects good people.
But the wicked will be destroyed.
Paul’s Work in Thessalonica
2 Brothers, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 Before we came to you, we suffered in Philippi. People there insulted us. You know about that. And when we came to you, many people were against us. But our God helped us to be brave and to tell you his Good News. 3 Our message was a message to encourage you. We were not trying to lie. We had no evil plan. We were not trying to trick you. 4 But we speak the Good News because God tested us and trusted us to do it. When we speak, we are not trying to please men. But we are trying to please God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know that we never tried to influence you by saying nice things about you. We were not trying to get your money. We had no selfishness to hide from you. God knows that this is true. 6 We were not looking for praise from you or anyone else. We are apostles of Christ. When we were with you, we could have used our authority to make you do things.
7 But we were very gentle with you.[a] We were like a mother caring for her little children. 8 Because we loved you, we were happy to share God’s Good News with you. But not only that, we were also happy to share even our own lives with you.
The Most Important Command
34 The Pharisees learned that the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them. So the Pharisees met together. 35 One Pharisee was an expert in the law of Moses. That Pharisee asked Jesus a question to test him. 36 The Pharisee asked, “Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?”
37 Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and most important command. 39 And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’[b] 40 All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.”
Jesus Questions the Pharisees
41 While the Pharisees were together, Jesus asked them a question. 42 He asked, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
The Pharisees answered, “The Christ is the Son of David.”
43 Then Jesus said to them, “Then why did David call him ‘Lord’? David was speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit. David said,
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit by me at my right side,
until I put your enemies under your control.’ Psalm 110:1
45 David calls the Christ ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”
46 None of the Pharisees could answer Jesus’ question. And after that day no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more questions.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.