Luke 6:2-32

²Some Pharisees who were watching said to Jesus, “◄You should not be doing on our rest day work that our laws forbid!/Why are you doing on our rest day work that our laws forbid?►” RHQ

³Jesus wanted to show them that the record in Scriptures indicated that God permitted people to disobey certain religious laws when they needed food. So he replied, “ It is written in the Scriptures what our revered ancestor, King David did when he and the men with him were hungry. You have read about that, ◄ but you do not think about what it implies/so why do you not think about what it implies?► RHQ

⁴David entered God's big worship tent and asked for some food. The high priest gave him the bread that the priests had presented to God. It was permitted in one of Moses' laws that only the priests could eat that bread. But even though David was not a priest, he ate some, and gave some to the men who were with him. And God did not consider that what David did was wrong!”

⁵Jesus also said to them, “ I am the one who came from heaven, so I have the authority to determine what is right for my disciples to do on the day of rest!”

⁶Another ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► Jesus entered a ◄synagogue/Jewish meeting place► and taught the people. There was a man there whose right hand was shriveled.

⁷The men who taught the Jewish laws and the Pharisees who were there watched Jesus, to see if he would heal the man ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day►. They did this so that, if he healed the man, they would accuse him of disobeying their laws by working on the day of rest.

⁸But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come and stand here in front of everyone!” So the man got up and stood there.

⁹Then Jesus said to the others, “I ask you this: Do the laws that God gave Moses permit people to do what is good ◄on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day►, or do they permit people to harm others? Do they permit us to save a person's life on our day of rest or to let him die HYP by refusing to help him?”

¹⁰They refused to answer him. So after he looked around at them all, he said to the man, “Stretch out your shriveled hand!” The man did that, and his hand became all right again!

¹¹But the men who taught the Jewish laws and the Pharisees were very angry, and they discussed with one another what they could do to get rid of Jesus.

¹²About that time Jesus went up into the hills to pray. He prayed to God all night.

¹³The next day he summoned all his disciples to come near him. From them he chose twelve men, whom he called apostles.

¹⁴They were Simon, to whom he gave the new name, Peter; Andrew, Peter's younger brother; James and his younger brother, John; Philip; Bartholomew;

¹⁵Matthew, whose other name was Levi; Thomas; another James, the son of Alpheus; Simon, who belonged to the party that encouraged people to rebel against the Roman government;

¹⁶Judas, the son of another James; and Judas Iscariot (OR, Judas from the town of Kerioth), the one who later ◄betrayed Jesus./enabled the Jewish leaders to seize Jesus.►

¹⁷Jesus came down from the hills with his disciples and stood on a level area. There was a very big crowd of his disciples there. There was also a large group of people who had come from Jerusalem and from many other places in Judea district, and from the coastal areas near Tyre and Sidon cities.

¹⁸They came to hear Jesus talk to them and to be healed {and for him to heal them} from their diseases. He also healed those whom evil spirits had troubled.

¹⁹Everyone in the crowd tried to touch him, because he was healing everyone by his/God's power.

²⁰He looked MTY at his disciples and said, “ God is pleased with you who know that you lack what he wants you to have; he will allow you to be the people whose lives he rules over.

²¹God is pleased with you who sincerely desire to receive what MTY he wants you to have; he will give you what you need, until you are satisfied. God is pleased with you that grieve now because of sin. Later you will be joyful.

²²God is pleased with you when other people hate you, when they will not let you join them, when they insult you, when they say that you are evil because you believe in me, the one who came from heaven.

²³When that happens, rejoice! Jump up and down because you are so happy! God will give you a great reward in heaven! When they do these things to you, it will prove that you are God's servants. (OR, People have always treated God's servants like that.) Do not forget that these people's ancestors did the same things to the prophets who served God faithfully!

²⁴But there will be terrible punishment for you that are rich; the happiness you have received from your riches is the only happiness that you will get.

²⁵There will be terrible punishment for you who think that you have all that you need now; you will realize that these things will not make you feel satisfied. There will be terrible punishment for you who are joyful now; you will later be very sad.

²⁶When most HYP people speak well about you, trouble is ahead for you; it will not prove that you are God's servants, because your ancestors used to speak well about those who falsely claimed that they were prophets.”

²⁷“But I say this to each of you disciples who are listening to what I say: Love your enemies as well as your friends. Do good things for those who hate you!

²⁸Ask God to bless those who curse you! Pray for those who mistreat you!

²⁹If someone insults one of you by striking you on one of your cheeks, turn your face so that he can strike the other cheek also. If a bandit wants to take away your (sg) coat, let him also have your shirt.

³⁰Give something to everyone who asks you (sg) for something. If someone takes away things that belong to you (sg), do not ask him to return them.

³¹In whatever way you (pl) want others to act toward you, that is the way that you should act toward them.

³²If you love only those who love you, do not expect God to praise you for doing that RHQ, because even sinners love those who love them.