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A Decision Is Made About the Tribe of Benjamin
21 The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 And the people of Bethel came and sat there until evening before God, and they lifted their voices and wept bitterly.[a] 3 And they said, “Why, Yahweh, God of Israel, has it happened today in Israel that one tribe is lacking from Israel?” 4 On the next day the people rose early, and they built there an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 5 And the Israelites[b] said, “Who in the assembly has not come up from all the tribes of Israel to Yahweh?” For a solemn oath was taken concerning whoever did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, “He will certainly be put to death.” 6 But the Israelites[c] had compassion for Benjamin, their relatives,[d] and they said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel. 7 What will we do for them—for the ones being left over—for wives? For we have sworn by Yahweh not to give to them our daughters as wives.”
8 They asked, “Which one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah?” And behold, no one came from Jabesh-gilead to the camp, to the assembly. 9 The people were counted, and no one was there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead. 10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men from the troops, and they commanded them, saying, “Go, strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword,[e] and the women and children. 11 This is the thing you will do: you will destroy[f] every man and every woman who had sex with a man.”[g] 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins[h] who had not had sex with a man,[i] and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the congregation sent and spoke all this to the descendants[j] of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and they assured them they would not be hurt.[k] 14 And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave to them the women whom they kept alive from Jabesh-gilead; but they were not enough for them.
15 And the people felt sorry for Benjamin because Yahweh weakened the tribes of Israel.[l] 16 So the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do for the remaining ones for wives, since the women from Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 And they said, “There must be a remnant for Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel. 18 But we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” (For the Israelites[m] swore, saying, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.”) 19 And they said, “Look, the annual feast of Yahweh is in Shiloh, which is to the north of Bethel, east[n] of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah. 20 They instructed the descendants[o] of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in ambush in the vineyards, 21 and watch and look; when the daughters of Shiloh dance in the dances, come out from the vineyards and seize for yourselves a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And if their fathers or their brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Allow us to have them, because we did not capture a wife for each man in the battle, and because you did not give them to them, or else[p] you would have been guilty.’” 23 The descendants[q] of Benjamin did likewise, and they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they seized, and they went and returned to their territory, and they rebuilt the cities and they lived in them. 24 So the Israelites[r] dispersed from there at that time according to tribe and family; and they went out from there, each one to their own territory. 25 In those days there was no king in Israel; each one did what was right in his own eyes.
Elimelech Takes His Family to Live in Moab
1 And it happened in the days when the judges ruled,[s] there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem of Judah went to reside[t] in the countryside of Moab—he and his wife and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephraimites from Bethlehem in Judah. And they went to the countryside of Moab and remained there.
3 But Elimelech the husband of Naomi died and she was left behind with her two sons.[u] 4 And they took[v] for themselves Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5 But both[w] Mahlon and Kilion died, and the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband.
Naomi Returns with Ruth
6 And she got up, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the countryside of Moab, because she had heard in the countryside of Moab that Yahweh had come to the aid of[x] his people to give food to them. 7 So she set out from the place where she was[y] and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, each of you return to her mother’s house. May Yahweh show kindness to you[z] just as you did with the dead and with me. 9 May Yahweh grant that you[aa] find a resting place, each in the house of her husband.” And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and cried.
10 And they said to her, “No, we want to return with you to your people.” 11 And Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why do you still want to go with me?[ab] Are there sons in my womb[ac] that may be husbands for you? 12 Turn back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband.[ad] If I should think there is hope for me, even if I should have a husband this night, and even if I should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying?[ae] No, my daughters, for it is far more bitter to me than to you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.” 14 And they lifted up their voices and cried again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law too.”
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge[af] me to leave you or to return from following you![ag] For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. So may Yahweh do to me, and even more, unless[ah] death separates you and me!”[ai] 18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.[aj]
19 So the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came[ak] to Bethlehem, all of the town was stirred because of them. And they said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 And she said to them, “You should not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for Shaddai[al] has caused me to be very bitter.[am] 21 I went away full, but Yahweh brought me back empty-handed! Why call me Naomi when Yahweh has testified against me[an] and Shaddai[ao] has brought calamity upon me?” 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, returning from the countryside of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest of barley.
4 And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.
5 Now he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 And Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, because he had become tired from the journey, simply sat down at the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me water[a] to drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the town so that they could buy food.) 9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How do you, being a Jew, ask from me water[b] to drink, since I[c] am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me water[d] to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep! From where then do you get this living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you,[e] who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or come here to draw water!”[f] 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have said rightly, ‘I do not have a husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truthfully!”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people[g] say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming—and now is here[h]—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for indeed the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and the ones who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever that one comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.[i]
The Disciples and the Harvest
27 And at this point[j] his disciples came, and they were astonished that he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you seek?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people,[k] 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Perhaps this one is the Christ?” 30 They went out from the town and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile the disciples were asking him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something!”[l] 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples began to say[m] to one another, “No one brought him anything[n] to eat, did they?”[o] 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.[p] 36 The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, in order that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 37 For in this instance[q] the saying is true, ‘It is one who sows and another who reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have worked, and you have entered into their work.”
The Samaritans and the Savior of the World
39 Now from that town many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking[r] him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word, 42 And they were saying to the woman, “No longer because of what you said[s] do we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world!”
Praise to Yahweh for His Work on Behalf of Israel
105 Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him; sing praises concerning him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
3 Boast about his holy name.
Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.
4 Make supplication to Yahweh and his might;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember his wonders that he has done,
his signs and the judgments of his mouth,
6 O offspring of Abraham his servant,
you descendants[a] of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is Yahweh our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded
for a thousand generations,
9 that he made with Abraham,
and by his oath swore to Isaac.
10 He then confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the allotment that is your[b] inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number[c]—
a trifle—and were sojourners in it,
13 and they wandered about among the nations,[d]
from one kingdom to another people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them,
and he rebuked kings on account of them,
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones,
nor harm my prophets.”
24 The crown of the wise is their wealth;
the folly of fools is folly.
25 He who saves lives[a] is a witness of truth,
but he who utters lies is a betrayer.
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