The Lord Answers Job

38 Then the Lord (A)answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Who is this that (B)darkens counsel by words (C)without knowledge?
(D)Dress for action[a] like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

“Where were you when I (E)laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars (F)sang together
    and all (G)the sons of God (H)shouted for joy?

“Or who (I)shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
    and (J)thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed (K)limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your (L)proud waves be stayed’?

12 “Have you (M)commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of (N)the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be (O)shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their (P)light is withheld,
    and (Q)their uplifted arm is broken.

16 “Have you (R)entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have (S)the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of (T)deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern (U)the paths to its home?
21 You know, for (V)you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!

22 “Have you entered (W)the storehouses of the snow,
    or have you seen (X)the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved (Y)for the time of trouble,
    (Z)for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
    or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25 “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
    and (AA)a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on (AB)a land where no man is,
    on (AC)the desert in which there is no man,
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
    and to make the ground sprout with (AD)grass?

28 “Has (AE)the rain a father,
    or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb did (AF)the ice come forth,
    and who has given birth to (AG)the frost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
    and the face of the deep is (AH)frozen.

31 “Can you bind the chains of (AI)the Pleiades
    or loose the cords of (AJ)Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth[b] in their season,
    or can you guide (AK)the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know (AL)the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you establish their rule on the earth?

34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    that (AM)a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has (AN)put wisdom in (AO)the inward parts[c]
    or given understanding to the mind?[d]
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass
    and (AP)the clods stick fast together?

39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
    or (AQ)satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their (AR)dens
    or lie in wait (AS)in their thicket?
41 Who provides for (AT)the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God for help,
    and wander about for lack of food?

39 “Do you know when (AU)the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe (AV)the calving of the does?
Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
when they (AW)crouch, bring forth their offspring,
    and are delivered of their young?
Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
    they go out and (AX)do not return to them.

“Who has let the wild donkey go free?
    Who has (AY)loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
to whom I have given (AZ)the arid plain for his home
    and (BA)the salt land for his dwelling place?
He scorns the tumult of the city;
    he hears not the shouts of the driver.
He ranges the mountains as his pasture,
    and he searches after every green thing.

“Is (BB)the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will he spend the night at your (BC)manger?
10 Can you bind (BD)him in the furrow with ropes,
    or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great,
    and will you leave to him your labor?
12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain
    and gather it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
    but are they the pinions and plumage of love?[e]
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She (BE)deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
    though her (BF)labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
17 because God has made her forget wisdom
    and (BG)given her no share in understanding.
18 When she rouses herself to flee,[f]
    she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19 “Do you give the horse his might?
    Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
20 Do you make him leap like the locust?
    His majestic (BH)snorting is terrifying.
21 He paws[g] in the valley and exults in his strength;
    he (BI)goes out to meet the weapons.
22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    he does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon him rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;
    he cannot stand still at (BJ)the sound of the trumpet.
25 When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’
    He smells the battle from afar,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
    and spreads his wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes his (BK)nest on high?
28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home,
    on (BL)the rocky crag and stronghold.
29 From there he spies out the prey;
    his eyes behold it from far away.
30 His young ones suck up blood,
    and (BM)where the slain are, there is he.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 38:3 Hebrew Gird up your loins
  2. Job 38:32 Probably the name of a constellation
  3. Job 38:36 Or in the ibis
  4. Job 38:36 Or rooster
  5. Job 39:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  6. Job 39:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  7. Job 39:21 Hebrew They paw

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and (A)baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed (B)again for Galilee. (C)And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field (D)that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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]

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, (F)“Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.

Footnotes

  1. John 4:6 That is, about noon
  2. John 4:14 Greek forever
  3. John 4:48 The Greek for you is plural; twice in this verse
  4. John 4:51 Or bondservants
  5. John 4:52 That is, at 1 p.m.

Bible Gateway Recommends

ESV Thinline Bible--buffalo leather, brown
ESV Thinline Bible--buffalo leather, brown
Retail: $79.99
Our Price: $51.99
Save: $28.00 (35%)
5.0 of 5.0 stars
ESV Study Bible, Large Print, Genuine Leather, Black
ESV Study Bible, Large Print, Genuine Leather, Black
Retail: $129.99
Our Price: $68.49
Save: $61.50 (47%)
4.5 of 5.0 stars
ESV Holy Bible for Kids, Large Print Hardcover
ESV Holy Bible for Kids, Large Print Hardcover
Retail: $24.99
Our Price: $15.99
Save: $9.00 (36%)
4.5 of 5.0 stars
Proverbs, ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal
Proverbs, ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal
Retail: $8.99
Our Price: $4.99
Save: $4.00 (44%)
5.0 of 5.0 stars
ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Large Print (Summer Garden)
ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Large Print (Summer Garden)
Retail: $54.99
Our Price: $35.99
Save: $19.00 (35%)
4.5 of 5.0 stars