Sunday, July 16, 2028

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. ¹⁷Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily! ³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. ³¹It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs. ³³For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people. ³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein! ³⁶The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. ¹⁹For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

²⁵Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” ²⁷He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” ²⁹But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” ³⁰Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, ³⁴came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ ³⁶Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷He said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”