Luke 10:25-42

Easy-to-Read Version

A Story About the Good Samaritan

²⁵ Then an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. He said, “Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

²⁶ Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you understand from it?”

²⁷ The man answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’^[a] Also, ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’^[b]”

²⁸ Jesus said, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will have eternal life.”

²⁹ But the man wanted to show that the way he was living was right. So he said to Jesus, “But who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ To answer this question, Jesus said, “A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Some robbers surrounded him, tore off his clothes, and beat him. Then they left him lying there on the ground almost dead.

³¹ “It happened that a Jewish priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he did not stop to help him. He walked away. ³² Next, a Levite came near. He saw the hurt man, but he went around him. He would not stop to help him either. He just walked away.

³³ “Then a Samaritan man traveled down that road. He came to the place where the hurt man was lying. He saw the man and felt very sorry for him. ³⁴ The Samaritan went to him and poured olive oil and wine^[c] on his wounds. Then he covered the man’s wounds with cloth. The Samaritan had a donkey. He put the hurt man on his donkey, and he took him to an inn. There he cared for him. ³⁵ The next day, the Samaritan took out two silver coins and gave them to the man who worked at the inn. He said, ‘Take care of this hurt man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’”

³⁶ Then Jesus said, “Which one of these three men do you think was really a neighbor to the man who was hurt by the robbers?”

³⁷ The teacher of the law answered, “The one who helped him.”

Jesus said, “Then you go and do the same.”

Mary and Martha

³⁸ While Jesus and his followers were traveling, he went into a town, and a woman named Martha let him stay at her house. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. ⁴⁰ But her sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. ⁴² Only one thing is important. Mary has made the right choice, and it will never be taken away from her.”