Psalm 55^[a]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David.

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands^(A) I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,^{(B) 9} and so that you may live long^(C) in the land the Lord swore^(D) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(E) 10} The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt,^(F) from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys^(G) that drinks rain from heaven.^{(H) 12} It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes^(I) of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

¹³ So if you faithfully obey^(J) the commands I am giving you today—to love^(K) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul^(L)— ¹⁴ then I will send rain^(M) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,^(N) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass^(O) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.^(P)

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.^{(Q) 17} Then the Lord’s anger^(R) will burn against you, and he will shut up^(S) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,^(T) and you will soon perish^(U) from the good land the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.^{(V) 19} Teach them to your children,^(W) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^{(X) 20} Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,^{(Y) 21} so that your days and the days of your children may be many^(Z) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.^(AA)

²² If you carefully observe^(AB) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love^(AC) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast^(AD) to him— ²³ then the Lord will drive out^(AE) all these nations^(AF) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.^{(AG) 24} Every place where you set your foot will be yours:^(AH) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River^(AI) to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror^(AJ) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.^(AK)

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing^(AL) and a curse^(AM)— ²⁷ the blessing^(AN) if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey^(AO) the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,^(AP) which you have not known.

5 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God,^(A) to offer gifts and sacrifices^(B) for sins.^{(C) 2} He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray,^(D) since he himself is subject to weakness.^{(E) 3} This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.^{(F) 4} And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.^(G)

⁵ In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory^(H) of becoming a high priest.^(I) But God said^(J) to him,

⁶ And he says in another place,

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions^(N) with fervent cries and tears^(O) to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard^(P) because of his reverent submission.^{(Q) 8} Son^(R) though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered^{(S) 9} and, once made perfect,^(T) he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰ and was designated by God to be high priest^(U) in the order of Melchizedek.^(V)

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John^(A)— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea^(B) and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria.^{(C) 5} So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.^{(D) 6} Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”^{(E) 8} (His disciples had gone into the town^(F) to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan^(G) woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”^(H)

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well^(I) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.^(J) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water^(K) welling up to eternal life.”^(L)

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty^(M) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.^{(N) 20} Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,^(O) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(P)

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming^(Q) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.^{(R) 22} You Samaritans worship what you do not know;^(S) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.^{(T) 23} Yet a time is coming and has now come^(U) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit^(V) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit,^(W) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ)^(X) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”^(Y)