The Lord's Comfort for Zion

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^(A)baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed ^(B)again for Galilee. ^4 (C)And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^(D)that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, ^(E)wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.^[a]

⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^(F)“Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (^(G)For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ^(H)living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ^12 (I)Are you greater than our father Jacob? ^(J)He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but ^(K)whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^(L)will never be thirsty again.^[b] The water that I will give him will become ^(M)in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, ^(N)give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, ^(O)call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^(P)you are ^(Q)a prophet. ^20 (R)Our fathers worshiped on ^(S)this mountain, but you say that ^(T)in Jerusalem is ^(U)the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, ^(V)“Woman, believe me, ^(W)the hour is coming when ^(X)neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ^22 (Y)You worship what you do not know; ^(Z)we worship what we know, for ^(AA)salvation is ^(AB)from the Jews. ²³ But ^(AC)the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^(AD)in spirit and ^(AE)truth, for the Father ^(AF)is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that ^(AG)Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^(AH)he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, ^(AI)“I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷ Just then ^(AJ)his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man ^(AK)who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ^(AL)“Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, ^(AM)“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, ^(AN)“My food is ^(AO)to do the will of him who sent me and ^(AP)to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^(AQ)the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^(AR)sower and ^(AS)reaper ^(AT)may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ^(AU)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap ^(AV)that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^(AW)and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans ^(AX)from that town believed in him ^(AY)because of ^(AZ)the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed ^(BA)because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, ^(BB)and we know that this is indeed ^(BC)the Savior ^(BD)of the world.”

⁴³ After ^(BE)the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified ^(BF)that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, ^(BG)having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For ^(BH)they too had gone to the feast.

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

⁴⁶ So he came again to ^(BI)Cana in Galilee, ^(BJ)where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus ^(BK)had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, ^(BL)“Unless you^[c] see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come down ^(BM)before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his servants^[d] met him and told him that his son was recovering. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour^[e] the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, ^(BN)and all his household. ^54 (BO)This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a ^(BP)feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by ^(BQ)the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic^[f] called Bethesda,^[g] which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and ^(BR)paralyzed.^{[h] 5} One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, ^(BS)“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ^9 (BT)And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

^(BU)Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews^[i] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and ^(BV)it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for ^(BW)Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! ^(BX)Sin no more, ^(BY)that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews ^(BZ)were persecuting Jesus, ^(CA)because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus Is Equal with God

¹⁸ This was why the Jews ^(CB)were seeking all the more to kill him, ^(CC)because not only was he ^(CD)breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God ^(CE)his own Father, ^(CF)making himself equal with God.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(CG)the Son ^(CH)can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father^[j] does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰ For ^(CI)the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And ^(CJ)greater works than these will he show him, so that ^(CK)you may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father ^(CL)raises the dead and ^(CM)gives them life, so ^(CN)also the Son gives life ^(CO)to whom he will. ^22 (CP)For the Father judges no one, but ^(CQ)has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they ^(CR)honor the Father. ^(CS)Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(CT)whoever hears my word and ^(CU)believes him who sent me has eternal life. He ^(CV)does not come into judgment, but ^(CW)has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(CX)an hour is coming, and is now here, when ^(CY)the dead will hear ^(CZ)the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear ^(DA)will live. ^26 (DB)For as the Father has life in himself, ^(DC)so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he ^(DD)has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for ^(DE)an hour is coming when ^(DF)all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, ^(DG)those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Witnesses to Jesus

^30 (DH)“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ^(DI)my judgment is just, because ^(DJ)I seek not my own will ^(DK)but the will of him who sent me. ^31 (DL)If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is ^(DM)another who bears witness about me, and ^(DN)I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ^33 (DO)You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Not that ^(DP)the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and ^(DQ)shining lamp, and ^(DR)you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶ But ^(DS)the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For ^(DT)the works that the Father has given me ^(DU)to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, ^(DV)bear witness about me that ^(DW)the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me ^(DX)has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, ^(DY)his form you have never seen, ³⁸ and ^(DZ)you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ^39 (EA)You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and ^(EB)it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet ^(EC)you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ^41 (ED)I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But ^(EE)I know that you do not have ^(EF)the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come ^(EG)in my Father's name, and ^(EH)you do not receive me. ^(EI)If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and ^(EJ)do not seek the glory that comes from ^(EK)the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^(EL)on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^(EM)he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But ^(EN)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”