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21 Now the children of Israel had also sworn in Maspha, saying: None of us shall give of his daughters to the children of Benjamin to wife.
2 And they all came to the house of God in Silo, and abiding before him till the evening, lifted up their voices, and began to lament and weep, saying:
3 O Lord God of Israel, why is so great an evil come to pass in thy people, that this day one tribe should be taken away from among us?
4 And rising early the next day, they built an altar: and offered there holocausts, and victims of peace, and they said:
5 Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the army of the Lord? for they had bound themselves with a great oath, when they were in Maspha, that whosoever were wanting should be slain.
6 And the children of Israel being moved with repentance for their brother Benjamin, began to say: One tribe is taken away from Israel.
7 Whence shall they take wives? For we have all in general sworn, not to give our daughters to them.
8 Therefore they said: Who is thereof all the tribes of Israel, that came not up to the Lord to Maspha. And behold the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad were found not to have been in that army.
9 (At that time also when they were in Silo, no one of them was found there.)
10 So they sent ten thousand of the most valiant men, and commanded them, saying: Go and put the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad to the sword, with their wives and their children.
11 And this is what you shall observe: Every male, and all women that have known men, you shall kill, but the virgins you shall save.
12 And there were found of Jabes Galaad four hundred virgins, that had not known the bed of a man, and they brought them to the camp Silo, into the land of Chanaan.
13 And they sent messengers to the children of Benjamin, that were in the rock Remmon, and commanded them to receive them in peace.
14 And the children of Benjamin came at that time, and wives were given them of the daughters of Jabes Galaad: but they found no others, whom they might give in like manner.
15 And all Israel was very sorry, and repented for the destroying of one tribe out of Israel.
16 And the ancients said: What shall we do with the rest, that have not received wives? for all the women in Benjamin are dead.
17 And we must use all care, and provide with great diligence, that one tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
18 For as to our own daughters we cannot give them, being bound with an oath and a curse, whereby we said: Cursed be he that shall give Benjamin any of his daughters to wife.
19 So they took counsel, and said: Behold there is a yearly solemnity of the Lord in Silo, which is situate on the north of the city of Bethel, and on the east side of the way, that goeth from Bethel to Sichem, and on the south of the town of Lebona.
20 And they commanded the children of Benjamin, and said: Go, and lie hid in the vineyards,
21 And when you shall see the daughters of Silo come out, as the custom is, to dance, come ye on a sudden out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife among them, and go into the land of Benjamin.
22 And when their fathers and their brethren shall come, and shall begin to complain against you, and to chide, we will say to them: Have pity on them for they took them not away as by the right of war or conquest, but when they asked to have them, you gave them not, and the fault was committed on your part.
23 And the children of Benjamin did, as they had been commanded: and according to their number, they carried off for themselves every man his wife of them that were dancing: and they went into their possession and built up their cities, and dwelt in them.
24 The children of Israel also returned by their tribes, and families, to their dwellings. In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.
1 In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
2 He was named Elimelech, and his wife, Noemi: and his two sons, the one Mahalon, and the other Chelion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Juda. And entering into the country of Moab, they abode there.
3 And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained with her sons.
4 And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years.
5 And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her husband.
6 And she arose to go from the land of Moab to her own country with both her daughters in law: for she had heard that the Lord had looked upon his people, and had given them food.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place of her sojournment, with both her daughters in law: and being now in the way to return into the land of Juda,
8 She said to them: Go ye home to your mothers: the Lord deal mercifully with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 May he grant you to find rest in the houses of the husbands which you shall take. And she kissed them. And they lifted up their voice and began to weep,
10 And to say: We will go on with thee to thy people.
11 But she answered them: Return, my daughters: why come ye with me? have I any more sons in my womb, that you may hope for husbands of me?
12 Return again, my daughters, and go your ways: for I am now spent with age, and not fit for wedlock. Although I might conceive this night, and bear children,
13 If you would wait till they were grown up, and come to man's estate, you would be old women before you marry. Do not so, my daughters, I beseech you: for I am grieved the more for your distress, and the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
14 And they lifted up their voice, and began to weep again: Orpha kissed her mother in law and returned: Ruth stuck close to her mother in law.
15 And Noemi said to her: Behold thy kinswoman is returned to her people, and to her gods, go thou with her.
16 She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave thee and depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and where thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
17 The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.
18 Then Noemi, seeing that Ruth was steadfastly determined to go with her, would not be against it, nor persuade her any more to return to her friends:
19 So they went together and came to Bethlehem. And when they were come into the city, the report was quickly spread among all: and the women said: This is that Noemi.
20 But she said to them: Call me not Noemi, (that is, beautiful,) but call me Mara, (that is, bitter,) for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness.
21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me back empty. Why then do you call me Noemi, whom the Lord hath humbled and the Almighty hath afflicted?
22 So Noemi came with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter in law, from the land of her sojournment: and returned into Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest.
4 And he was of necessity to pass through Samaria.
5 He cometh therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus saith to her: Give me to drink.
8 For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats.
9 Then that Samaritan woman saith to him: How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith to him: Sir, thou hast nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered, and said to her: Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever:
14 But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.
15 The woman saith to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly.
19 The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.
21 Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father.
22 You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him.
24 God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith to him: I know that the Messias cometh (who is called Christ); therefore, when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith to her: I am he, who am speaking with thee.
27 And immediately his disciples came; and they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What seekest thou? or, why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman therefore left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men there:
29 Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?
30 They went therefore out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean time the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat.
32 But he said to them: I have meat to eat, which you know not.
33 The disciples therefore said one to another: Hath any man brought him to eat?
34 Jesus saith to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work.
35 Do you not say, There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together.
37 For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth.
38 I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours.
39 Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done.
40 So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed in him because of his own word.
42 And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
105 Alleluia. Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times.
4 Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.
5 That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity.
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.
8 And he saved them for his own name's sake: that he might make his power known.
9 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not one of them left.
12 And they believed his words: and they sang his praises.
13 They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited not for his counsels.
14 And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water.
15 And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls.
24 The crown of the wise is their riches: the folly of fools, imprudence.
25 A faithful witness delivereth souls: and the double dealer uttereth lies.
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