1Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth! 2Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious. 3Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cower before You. 4All the earth bows down to You; they sing praise to You; they sing praise to Your name.” Selah 5Come and see the works of God; how awesome are His deeds toward mankind. 6He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him. 7He rules forever by His power; His eyes watch the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah 8Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard. 9He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.
New Testament·Luke 9:49–62
49“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.” 50“Do not stop him,” Jesus replied, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” 51As the day of His ascension approached, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53But the people there refused to welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56And He and His disciples went on to another village. 57As they were walking along the road, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 59Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You, however, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Still another said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family.” 62Then Jesus declared, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Old Testament·Deuteronomy 22–23
1If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother. 2If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him. 3And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it. 4If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up. 5A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God. 6If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young. 7You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days. 8If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it. 9Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled —both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard. 10Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. 11Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together. 12You are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear. 13Suppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her, 14and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.” 15Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate 16and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her. 17And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders. 18Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him. 19They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. 20If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you. 22If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. 23If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, 24you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you. 25But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. 26Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her. 28If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, 29then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives. 30A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.
23No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD. 2No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation. 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation. 4For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you. 5Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. 6You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live. 7Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. 8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD. 9When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp and stay outside. 11When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp. 12You must have a place outside the camp to go and relieve yourself. 13And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, lest He see anything unclean among you and turn away from you. 15Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you. 16Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him. 17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God. 19Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan. 20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess. 21If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin. 23Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth. 24When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not put any in your basket. 25When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
Reflect
What would it look like to love your neighbor the way this passage describes?