Psalm 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

Wives for the Benjamites

21 The men of Israel had taken an oath^(A) at Mizpah:^(B) “Not one of us will give^(C) his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

1 In the days when the judges ruled,^[a](A) there was a famine in the land.^(B) So a man from Bethlehem in Judah,^(C) together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while^(D) in the country of Moab.^{(E) 2} The man’s name was Elimelek,^(F) his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion.^(G) They were Ephrathites^(H) from Bethlehem,^(I) Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

³ Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women,^(J) one named Orpah and the other Ruth.^(K) After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion^(L) also died,^(M) and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

⁶ When Naomi heard in Moab^(N) that the Lord had come to the aid of his people^(O) by providing food^(P) for them, she and her daughters-in-law^(Q) prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.^(R) May the Lord show you kindness,^(S) as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands^(T) and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest^(U) in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed^(V) them goodbye and they wept aloud^{(W) 10} and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?^{(X) 12} Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up?^(Y) Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter^(Z) for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!^(AA)”

¹⁴ At this they wept^(AB) aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law^(AC) goodbye,^(AD) but Ruth clung to her.^(AE)

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law^(AF) is going back to her people and her gods.^(AG) Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(AH) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(AI) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(AJ) and your God my God.^{(AK) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(AL) if even death separates you and me.”^{(AM) 18} When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.^(AN)

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.^(AO) When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred^(AP) because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,^[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,^[c] because the Almighty^[d](AQ) has made my life very bitter.^{(AR) 21} I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.^(AS) Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^[e] me;^(AT) the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,^(AU) her daughter-in-law,^(AV) arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest^(AW) was beginning.^(AX)

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria.^{(A) 5} So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.^{(B) 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?”^{(C) 8} (His disciples had gone into the town^(D) to buy food.)

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

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

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty^(K) 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.^{(L) 20} Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,^(M) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(N)

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

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

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

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned^(X) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.^(Y) Could this be the Messiah?”^{(Z) 30} They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,^(AA) eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat^(AB) that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will^(AC) of him who sent me and to finish his work.^{(AD) 35} Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{(AE) 36} Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^(AF) a crop for eternal life,^(AG) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’^(AH) is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town^(AI) believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”^{(AJ) 40} So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”^(AK)