Exodus 21 - 22, John 4-5:24, Psalm 63

Judgments About Slaves

21“Now these are the ^ajudgments which you are to set before them:

²“If you buy ^aa Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. ³“If he comes ¹alone, he shall go out ²alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴“If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out ¹alone. ⁵“But ^aif the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ ⁶then his master shall bring him to ¹God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. Then his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.

⁷“^aAnd if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to ¹go free ^bas the male slaves ²do. ⁸“If she is ¹displeasing in the eyes of her master ²who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his treachery to her. ⁹“And if he designates her for his son, he shall do to her according to the custom of daughters. ¹⁰“If he takes for himself another woman, he may not reduce her ¹food, her clothing, or ^aher conjugal rights. ¹¹“And if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

Judgments About Personal Injuries

¹²“^aHe who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. ¹³“^aBut ¹if he did not lie in wait for him, but ^bGod let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee. ¹⁴“^aIf, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him by deceit, you shall take him even from My altar, that he may die.

¹⁵“And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶“^aHe who ¹kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷“^aAnd he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸“And if men contend with each other and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but ¹remains in bed, ¹⁹if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for ¹his loss of time, and ²he shall take care of him until he is completely healed.

²⁰“And if a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies ¹at his hand, he shall surely ²be punished. ²¹“But if for a day or two he is able to stand, no punishment shall be taken; ^afor he is his ¹property.

²²“And if men struggle with each other and ¹strike a woman with child so that ²she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband ³will set for him, and he shall ^apay ⁴as the judges decide. ²³“But if there is any further injury, ^athen you shall pay life for life, ²⁴^aeye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

²⁶“And if a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave and ruins it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. ²⁷“And if he ¹knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.

²⁸“And if an ox gores a man or a woman ¹to death, ^athe ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. ²⁹“If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it puts a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. ³⁰“If a ransom is ¹demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is ²demanded of him. ³¹“Whether it gores a son or ¹a daughter, it shall be done to him according to ²the same judgment. ³²“If the ox gores a male or female slave, ¹the owner shall give his or her master ²^,^athirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall ¹give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

³⁵“And if one man’s ox ¹hurts another’s so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox. ³⁶“Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

Judgments About Property Rights

22“¹If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and ^afour sheep for the sheep.

²“¹If the ^athief is ²caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. ³“But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be ^asold for his theft. ⁴“If what he stole is actually found alive in his hand, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, ^ahe shall pay double.

⁵“If a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

⁶“If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.

⁷“^aIf a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is ¹caught, he shall pay double. ⁸“If the thief is not ¹caught, then the owner of the house shall ²appear before ³^,^athe judges to determine whether he ⁴laid his hands on his neighbor’s property. ⁹“For every ¹breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the ²case of both parties shall come before ³^,^athe judges; he whom ⁴the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰“If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep for him, and it dies or is injured or is driven away while no one is looking, ¹¹then an ^aoath before Yahweh shall be made by the two of them ¹that he has not ²laid hands on his neighbor’s property; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. ¹²“But if it is actually stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. ¹³“Now if it is all torn to pieces, let him bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what has been torn to pieces.

¹⁴“If a man ¹borrows anything from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution. ¹⁵“But if its owner is with it, he shall not make restitution; if it is hired, it came for its hire.

Various Judgments

¹⁶“^aIf a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. ¹⁷“If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall ¹pay money equal to the ^adowry for virgins.

¹⁸“You shall not allow a ^asorceress to live.

¹⁹“^aWhoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

²⁰“^aAnd he who sacrifices to ¹any god, other than to Yahweh alone, shall be ²devoted to destruction.

²¹“^aYou shall not mistreat a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²²“^aYou shall not afflict any widow or orphan. ²³“And if you indeed afflict him, and ^aif he earnestly cries out to Me, ^bI will surely hear his cry; ²⁴and My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, ^aand your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵“^aIf you lend money to My people, to the afflicted ¹among you, you are not to ²act as a creditor to him; you shall not ³charge him ^binterest. ²⁶“If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak ^aas a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun sets, ²⁷for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his ¹body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall be that ^awhen he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for ^bI am gracious.

²⁸“You shall not ¹^,^acurse God, ^bnor curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹“^aYou shall not delay the offering from ¹the fullness of your harvest and the juice of your wine vat. ^bThe firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. ³⁰“^aAnd you shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; ^bon the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹“^aYou shall be holy men to Me, therefore ^byou shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Jesus Goes to Galilee

4Therefore when ^aJesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^bbaptizing more disciples than John ²(although ^aJesus Himself was not baptizing, but His ^bdisciples were), ³He left ^aJudea and went away ^bagain into Galilee. ⁴And He had to pass through ^aSamaria. ⁵So He *came to a city of ^aSamaria called Sychar, near ^bthe field that ^cJacob gave to his son Joseph; ⁶and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about ¹the sixth hour.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

⁷A woman of Samaria *came to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸For His ^adisciples had gone away into ^bthe city to buy food. ⁹Therefore the ^aSamaritan woman *said to Him, “How do You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?” (For ^bJews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you ^aliving water.” ¹¹She *said to Him, “¹Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do You get that ^aliving water? ¹²“Are You greater than our father Jacob, who ^agave us this well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” ¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^awill never thirst—ever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to ^beternal life.”

¹⁵The woman *said to Him, “¹Sir, ^agive me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come back here to draw.” ¹⁶He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back here.” ¹⁷The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” ¹⁹The woman *said to Him, “¹Sir, I see that You are ^aa prophet. ²⁰“^aOur fathers worshiped on ^bthis mountain, and you people say that ^cin Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” ²¹Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, ^aan hour is coming when ^bneither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²²“^aYou worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for ^bsalvation is from the Jews. ²³“But ^aan hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^bin spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. ²⁴“God is ¹spirit, and those who worship Him must worship ^ain spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman *said to Him, “I know that ^aMessiah is coming (^bHe who is called ¹Christ); when He comes, He will declare all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus *said to her, “^aI who speak to you am He.”

²⁷And at this point His ^adisciples came, and they were marveling that He was speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and *said to the men, ²⁹“Come, see a man ^awho told me all the things that I have done; ^bis this not the ¹Christ?” ³⁰They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “^aRabbi, eat.” ³²But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the ^adisciples were saying to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” ³⁴Jesus *said to them, “My food is to ^ado the will of Him who sent Me and to ^bfinish His work. ³⁵“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white ^afor harvest. ³⁶“Even now he who reaps is receiving ^awages and is gathering ^bfruit for ^clife eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷“For in this case the saying is true, ‘^aOne sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸“I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹From ^athat city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who bore witness, “^bHe told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of His word; ⁴²and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly ^athe Savior of the world.”

⁴³And after ^athe two days He went from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴For Jesus Himself bore witness that ^aa prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, ^ahaving seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Jesus Heals a Royal Official’s Son

⁴⁶Then He came again to ^aCana of Galilee ^bwhere He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at ^cCapernaum. ⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come ^aout of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die. ⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see ¹^,^asigns and ^bwonders, you will never believe.” ⁴⁹The royal official *said to Him, “¹Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰Jesus *said to him, “^aGo; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. ⁵¹And while he was still going down, his slaves met him, saying that his ¹son was alive. ⁵²So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the ¹seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and ^ahis whole household. ⁵⁴This is again a ^asecond ¹sign that Jesus did when He had ^bcome out of Judea into Galilee.

The Healing at Bethesda

5After these things there was ^aa feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now there is in Jerusalem by ^athe sheep gate a pool, which is called ^bin ¹Hebrew ²Bethesda, having five porticoes. ³In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, ¹[waiting for the moving of the waters; ⁴for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted.] ⁵And a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, He *said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” ⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when ^athe water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” ⁸Jesus *said to him, “^aGet up, pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹And immediately the man became well, and picked up his mat and began to walk. ^aNow it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰So ^athe Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and ^bit is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” ¹¹But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” ¹²They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” ¹³But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not ^asin anymore, ^bso that nothing worse happens to you.” ¹⁵The man went away, and disclosed to ^athe Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶And for this reason ^athe Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with the Father

¹⁸For this reason therefore ^athe Jews ^bwere seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, ^cmaking Himself equal with God.

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^athe Son can do nothing from Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever ¹the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. ²⁰“^aFor the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him ^bgreater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹“For just as the Father raises the dead and ^agives them life, even so ^bthe Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²²“For not even the Father judges anyone, but ^aHe has given all judgment to the Son, ²³so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. ^aHe who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and ^abelieves Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and ^bdoes not come into judgment, but has ^cpassed out of death into life.

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David. ¹When he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, ^aYou are my God; I shall seek You ²earnestly;My soul ^bthirsts for You, my flesh ³yearns for You,In a ^cdry and weary land without water.²Thus I have ^abeheld You in the sanctuary,To see Your power and Your glory.³Because Your ^alovingkindness is better than life,My lips will laud You.⁴Thus I will bless You ^aas long as I live;I will ^blift up my hands in Your name.⁵My soul is ^asatisfied as with fatness and richness,And my mouth offers ^bpraises with lips of joyful songs.⁶When I remember You ^aon my bed,I meditate on You in the ^bnight watches,⁷For ^aYou have been my help,And in the ^bshadow of Your wings I sing for joy.⁸My soul ^aclings ¹to You;Your ^bright hand upholds me.⁹But those who ^aseek my ¹life to destroy it,Will go into the ²^,^bdepths of the earth.¹⁰¹They will be ^adelivered over to the power of the sword;They will be a ^bportion for foxes.¹¹But the ^aking will be glad in God;Everyone who ^bswears by Him will boast,For the ^cmouths of those who speak lies will be closed.