Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Living as holy people

19 The Lord said to Moses, ² Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

⁹ When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather up every remaining bit of your harvest. ¹⁰ Also do not pick your vineyard clean or gather up all the grapes that have fallen there. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ You must not steal nor deceive nor lie to each other. ¹² You must not swear falsely by my name, desecrating your God’s name in doing so; I am the Lord. ¹³ You must not oppress your neighbors or rob them. Do not withhold a hired laborer’s pay overnight. ¹⁴ You must not insult a deaf person or put some obstacle in front of a blind person that would cause them to trip. Instead, fear your God; I am the Lord.

¹⁵ You must not act unjustly in a legal case. Do not show favoritism to the poor or deference to the great; you must judge your fellow Israelites fairly. ¹⁶ Do not go around slandering your people.^[a] Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed;^[b] I am the Lord. ¹⁷ You must not hate your fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your fellow Israelite strongly, so you don’t become responsible for his sin.^{[c] 18} You must not take revenge nor hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

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¹⁰ I laid a foundation like a wise master builder according to God’s grace that was given to me, but someone else is building on top of it. Each person needs to pay attention to the way they build on it. ¹¹ No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷ If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

¹⁸ Don’t fool yourself. If some of you think they are worldly-wise, then they should become foolish so that they can become wise. ¹⁹ This world’s wisdom is foolishness to God. As it’s written, He catches the wise in their cleverness.^{[a] 20} And also, The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are silly.^{[b] 21} So then, no one should brag about human beings. Everything belongs to you— ²² Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things in the present, things in the future—everything belongs to you, ²³ but you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Law of retaliation

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.^{[a] 39} But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. ⁴⁰ When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. ⁴¹ When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. ⁴² Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you.

Law of love

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor^[b] and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you ⁴⁵ so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.