The Beginning

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord^(A) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean^(B) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings^(C) on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma^(D) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground^(E) because of humans, even though^[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.^(F) And never again will I destroy^(G) all living creatures,^(H) as I have done.

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you^(A) and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant^(B) with you:^(C) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.^(D)”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^(E) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:^{(F) 13} I have set my rainbow^(G) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow^(H) appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant^(I) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.^{(J) 16} Whenever the rainbow^(K) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant^(L) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant^(M) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.^{(A) 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?”^{(B) 8} (His disciples had gone into the town^(C) to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan^(D) 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.”^(E)

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^(F) 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.^(G) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water^(H) welling up to eternal life.”^(I)

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