Jeremiah 22:1-23:8

New International Version

Judgment Against Wicked Kings

22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king^(A) of Judah and proclaim this message there: ²‘Hear^(B) the word of the Lord to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne^(C)—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.^(D) ³This is what the Lord says: Do what is just^(E) and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor^(F) the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow,^(G) and do not shed innocent blood^(H) in this place. ⁴For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings^(I) who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. ⁵But if you do not obey^(J) these commands, declares the Lord, I swear^(K) by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”

⁶For this is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah:

“Though you are like Gilead^(L) to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,^(M)
I will surely make you like a wasteland,^(N)
    like towns not inhabited.
⁷I will send destroyers^(O) against you,
    each man with his weapons,
and they will cut^(P) up your fine cedar beams
    and throw them into the fire.^(Q)

⁸“People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’^(R) ⁹And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served other gods.^(S)’”

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead^(T) king or mourn^(U) his loss;
rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return^(V)
nor see his native land again.

¹¹For this is what the Lord says about Shallum^[a]^(W) son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. ¹²He will die^(X) in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”

¹³“Woe^(Y) to him who builds^(Z) his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying^(AA) them for their labor.
¹⁴He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace^(AB)
    with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
    panels it with cedar^(AC)
    and decorates it in red.^(AD)

¹⁵“Does it make you a king
    to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
    He did what was right and just,^(AE)
    so all went well^(AF) with him.
¹⁶He defended the cause of the poor and needy,^(AG)
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know^(AH) me?”
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,^(AI)
on shedding innocent blood^(AJ)
    and on oppression and extortion.”^(AK)

¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“They will not mourn^(AL) for him:
    ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
    ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
¹⁹He will have the burial^(AM) of a donkey—
    dragged away and thrown^(AN)
    outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon and cry out,^(AO)
    let your voice be heard in Bashan,^(AP)
cry out from Abarim,^(AQ)
    for all your allies^(AR) are crushed.
²¹I warned you when you felt secure,^(AS)
    but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;^(AT)
    you have not obeyed^(AU) me.
²²The wind^(AV) will drive all your shepherds^(AW) away,
    and your allies^(AX) will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced^(AY)
    because of all your wickedness.
²³You who live in ‘Lebanon,^[b]^(AZ)’
    who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
    pain^(BA) like that of a woman in labor!

²⁴“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin^[c]^(BB) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring^(BC) on my right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵I will deliver^(BD) you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.^[d] ²⁶I will hurl^(BE) you and the mother^(BF) who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. ²⁷You will never come back to the land you long to return^(BG) to.”

²⁸Is this man Jehoiachin^(BH) a despised, broken pot,^(BI)
    an object no one wants?
Why will he and his children be hurled^(BJ) out,
    cast into a land^(BK) they do not know?
²⁹O land,^(BL) land, land,
    hear the word of the Lord!
³⁰This is what the Lord says:
“Record this man as if childless,^(BM)
    a man who will not prosper^(BN) in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring^(BO) will prosper,
    none will sit on the throne^(BP) of David
    or rule anymore in Judah.”

The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherds^(BQ) who are destroying and scattering^(BR) the sheep of my pasture!”^(BS) declares the Lord. ²Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds^(BT) who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock^(BU) and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil^(BV) you have done,” declares the Lord. ³“I myself will gather the remnant^(BW) of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture,^(BX) where they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴I will place shepherds^(BY) over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid^(BZ) or terrified, nor will any be missing,^(CA)” declares the Lord.

⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will raise up for David^[e] a righteous Branch,^(CB)
a King^(CC) who will reign^(CD) wisely
    and do what is just and right^(CE) in the land.
⁶In his days Judah will be saved
    and Israel will live in safety.^(CF)
This is the name^(CG) by which he will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Savior.^(CH)

⁷“So then, the days are coming,”^(CI) declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^(CJ) ⁸but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”^(CK)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 22:11 Also called Jehoahaz
Jeremiah 22:23 That is, the palace in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 7:2)
Jeremiah 22:24 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin; also in verse 28
Jeremiah 22:25 Or Chaldeans
Jeremiah 23:5 Or up from David’s line

John 4:1-26

New International Version

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)— ²although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³So he left Judea^(B) and went back once more to Galilee.

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

⁷When 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.)

⁹The 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])

¹⁰Jesus 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? ¹²Are 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?”

¹³Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but 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)

¹⁵The 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.”

¹⁶He 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. ¹⁸The 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) ²⁰Our 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) ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know;^(S) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.^(T) ²³Yet 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. ²⁴God is spirit,^(W) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”