Luke 10:25-37
International Children’s Bible
The Good Samaritan
25 Then a teacher of the law stood up. He was trying to test Jesus. He said, “Teacher, what must I do to get life forever?”
26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
27 The man answered, “Love the Lord your God. Love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.”[a] Also, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.”[b]
28 Jesus said to him, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will have life forever.”
29 But the man wanted to show that the way he was living was right. So he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 To answer this question, Jesus said, “A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Some robbers attacked him. They tore off his clothes and beat him. Then they left him lying there, almost dead. 31 It happened that a Jewish priest was going down that road. When the priest saw the man, he walked by on the other side of the road. 32 Next, a Levite[c] came there. He went over and looked at the man. Then he walked by on the other side of the road. 33 Then a Samaritan[d] traveling down the road came to 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[e] on his wounds and bandaged them. He put the hurt man on his own donkey and took him to an inn. At the inn, the Samaritan took care of him. 35 The next day, the Samaritan brought out two silver coins[f] and gave them to the innkeeper. The Samaritan said, ‘Take care of this 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 a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”
37 The teacher of the law answered, “The one who helped him.”
Jesus said to him, “Then go and do the same thing he did!”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 10:27 “Love . . . mind.” Quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5.
- 10:27 “You . . . yourself.” Quotation from Leviticus 19:18.
- 10:32 Levite Levites were men from the tribe of Levi who helped the Jewish priests with their work in the Temple. Read 1 Chronicles 23:24–32.
- 10:33 Samaritan Samaritans were people from Samaria. These people were part Jewish, but the Jews did not accept them as true Jews. Samaritans and Jews hated each other.
- 10:34 olive oil and wine Oil and wine were used like medicine to soften and clean wounds.
- 10:35 silver coins A Roman denarius. One coin was the average pay for one day’s work.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
