Love

³⁴And when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they themselves gathered together. ³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question: ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?” ³⁷Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

³⁴A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

⁹As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. ¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. ¹¹I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ¹²This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ¹⁷This is My command to you: Love one another.

⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. ⁶For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another. ¹¹Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer. ¹³Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. ⁶Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. ¹²Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

¹⁶By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. ¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹We love because He first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

¹⁴... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth ¹⁹of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

¹⁷You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him. ¹⁸Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. ⁵And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

³The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

²⁸Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” ³²“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, ³³and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any further.

²⁵One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?” ²⁷He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.” ²⁹But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he said, ‘and on my return I will repay you for any additional expense.’ ³⁶Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” ³⁷“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. ²Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

⁴³You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

²⁷But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³²If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

⁸Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹³For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

¹As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, ²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

¹Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.

¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

¹¹Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows, ¹³so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.

²⁴And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. ¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

²²Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

⁸Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Show hospitality to one another without complaining. ¹⁰As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

⁵And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. ⁶And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.

⁶Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

⁷The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

¹²And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good? ¹⁴Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day. ¹⁶Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe. ¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁶But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

¹After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself. ²And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. ³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

⁵Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. ⁷How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! ⁸They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights. ⁹For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. ¹⁰Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. ⁹He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever. ¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

¹I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. ²Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever. ²Give thanks to the God of gods. His loving devotion endures forever. ³Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His loving devotion endures forever. ²³He remembered us in our low estate His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁴and freed us from our enemies. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁵He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven! His loving devotion endures forever.

³Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.

¹²Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.

⁹Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends. ¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

⁶Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. ⁷Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

¹But now, this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. ³For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. ⁴Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! ¹⁶Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

¹⁰Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

²²Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. ²³They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

¹When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. ²But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. ³It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them. ⁴I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

¹⁴Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed. ¹⁵Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

¹⁷The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

³⁴Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, ³⁶I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ ⁴⁰And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

⁴¹“Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?” ⁴³“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. ⁴⁶You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

²⁰So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

³³When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left. ³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots.

¹⁵If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. ²¹Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” ¹⁶Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But the one who loves God is known by God.

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died. ¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. ¹⁶From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her ²⁶to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. ³⁰For we are members of His body. ³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. ³³Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

⁹Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. ¹⁰And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more

⁵The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. ⁶This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

¹Continue in brotherly love. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. ³Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.

⁸Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹¹This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. ¹³So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

²⁰But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

⁵and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, ⁶who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

⁵Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed. ⁶The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. ⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” ⁷Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

⁴But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. ⁵Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.