This translation is from the New American Bible. The bolded hyperlinks will take you to additional translations or collections/discussions of other scriptures addressing related principles. The entire chapter is included to provide context.
Information about the meaning of the original Hebrew of Greek of italicized words is provided in blue beneath each reading.
Text highlighted in yellow tells us something about God’s nature or our relationship to Him.
Text in green tells us about something God wants us to do.
Text in red describes what God tells us not to do.
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Molest = יָנָה = yanah
to oppress, suppress, treat violently, maltreat, vex, do wrong
Oppress = לָחַץ = lachats
to squeeze, press;afflict, crush, force, hold fast
Wrong = עָנָה = `anah
to afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down; mishandle;hurt, ravish; abase, weaken; to bestow labor upon
Compassionate = חַנּוּן = channuwn
Gracious, benignant
Additional scriptures addressing these principles are collected at Wisdom Principles: Caring For the Weak & Vulnerable
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength, O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock! Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall loveyour neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Love = ἀγαπάω = agapaō
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly; to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing; to have a preference for, wish well to, regard the welfare of; to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it; to welcome with desire, long for;
not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered; Love seeks the welfare of all, and works no ill to any; love seeks opportunity to do good to all men; the deep and constant love and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects, producing and fostering a reverential love in them towards the Giver, and a practical love towards those who are partakers of the same
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
Greet with affection, show affection; to be fond of, prize, desire; to be well pleased, contented
All = ὅλος = holos
all, whole, complete
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
whole, entire, complete in all its parts; entire, utter
Heart = καρδία = kardia
man's entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements; used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life; the seat of moral nature and spiritual life;the vigour and sense of physical life; the centre and seat of spiritual life; seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours; the faculty and seat of the intelligence; the will and character; the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions; the middle or central or inmost part of anything; will and character
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
the seat of feeling and passion; inclination, desire, purpose
Soul =ψυχή = psyche
the seat of personality; the breath of life; the vital force which animates the body; the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
Life; the conscious self or personality as centre of emotions, desires, and affections; various aspects of the self; Psyche
Mind = διάνοια = dianoia
the faculty of thinking;" then, "of knowing;" hence, "the understanding," and in general, "the mind," and so, "the faculty of moral reflection;""a thinking through, or over, a meditation, reflecting;” faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring; way of thinking and feeling; imagination
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
thought, i.e. intention, purpose; process of thinking, thought; discursive thought; thinking faculty, intelligence, understanding; intellectual capacity
Neighbor = πλησίον = plēsion
near, close by, neighboring; any other person, and where two are concerned, the other; fellow; There were no farmhouses scattered over the agricultural areas of Palestine; the populations, gathered in villages, went to and fro to their toil. Hence domestic life was touched at every point by a wide circle of neighborhood. The terms for neighbor were therefore of a very comprehensive scope.
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
near, close to
***
What these readings tell us about God and His ways:
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry
My wrath will flare up
for I am compassionate
Lord, my strength.
my strength
my rock
my fortress
my deliverer.
Lord, my strength.
my rock of refuge
my shield
the horn of my salvation
my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD
Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives
blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories
showed kindness to your anointed.
Lord, my strength.
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit
he raised from the dead
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
my Father will love him and we will come to him.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments
What these readings tell us to do:
lend money to one of your poor
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset
love you
became imitators of us and of the Lord
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit
became a model for all the believers
from you the word of the Lord has sounded
you turned to God from idols to
serve the living and true God
await his Son from heaven
loves me
keep my word
love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind
love your neighbor as yourself
What these readings tell us not to do:
molest or oppress an alien
wrong any widow or orphan
act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest
tested him
