Daily Bible Reading
Day 74
Today's reading: John 4-6
Look for the promises in God’s word. As you read and find them, write them in your journal along with the scripture reference.
John 4
Departure From Judea
1. Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more disciples than John
2. (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),
3. he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee.
Conversation With a Samaritan Woman
4. But he had to pass through Samaria.
5. Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6. Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon.
7. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.”
8. (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)
9. So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
10. Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11. “Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water?
12. Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”
13. Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again.
14. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain 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 have to come here to draw water.”
16. He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”
17. The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’
18. for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you 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 say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21. Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22. You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.
23. But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.
24. God is spirit, and the people 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 he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26. Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
The Disciples Return
27. Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?”
28. Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,
29. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”
30. So they left the town and began coming to him.
Workers for the Harvest
31. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32. But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33. So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”
34. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.
35. Don’t you say, ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest!
36. The one who reaps receives pay and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together.
37. For in this instance the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38. I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
The Samaritans Respond
39. Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
40. So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking him to stay with them. He stayed there two days,
41. and because of his word many more believed.
42. They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world.”
Onward to Galilee
43. After the two days he departed from there to Galilee.
44. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)
45. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem at the feast (for they themselves had gone to the feast).
Healing the Royal Official’s Son
46. Now he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick.
47. When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.
48. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe!”
49. “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.”
50. Jesus told him, “Go home; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.
51. While he was on his way down, his slaves met him and told him that his son was going to live.
52. So he asked them the time when his condition began to improve, and they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon the fever left him.”
53. Then the father realized that it was the very time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household.
54. Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
John 5
Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda
1. After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways.
3. A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.
4. [[EMPTY]]
5. Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
6. When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?”
7. The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me.”
8. Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9. Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.)
10. So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.”
11. But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12. They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”
13. But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.
14. After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.”
15. The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Responding to Jewish Leaders
16. Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him.
17. So he told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.”
18. For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.
19. So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
20. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.
21. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
22. Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,
23. so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
24. “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.
25. I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
26. For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself,
27. and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
28. “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29. and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation.
30. I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.
More Testimony About Jesus
31. “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.
32. There is another who testifies about me, and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true.
33. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34. (I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.)
35. He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time in his light.
36. “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.
37. And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time,
38. nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.
39. You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,
40. but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
41. “I do not accept praise from people,
42. but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.
43. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
44. How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God?
45. “Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.
46. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.
47. But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?”
John 6
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
1. After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias).
2. A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.
3. So Jesus went on up the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples.
4. (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near.)
5. Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”
6. (Now Jesus said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.)
7. Philip replied, “Two hundred silver coins worth of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.”
8. One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
9. “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for so many people?”
10. Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.) So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.
11. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated. He then did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.
12. When they were all satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted.”
13. So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by the people who had eaten.
14. Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
15. Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone.
Walking on Water
16. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the lake,
17. got into a boat, and started to cross the lake to Capernaum. (It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.)
18. By now a strong wind was blowing and the sea was getting rough.
19. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they caught sight of Jesus walking on the lake, approaching the boat, and they were frightened.
20. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
21. Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land where they had been heading.
22. The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.
23. But some boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24. So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
Jesus’ Discourse About the Bread of Life
25. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26. Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.
27. Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”
28. So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?”
29. Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires – to believe in the one whom he sent.”
30. So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
31. Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32. Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.
33. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34. So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”
35. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.
36. But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe.
37. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.
38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
39. Now this is the will of the one who sent me – that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day.
40. For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
41. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,”
42. and they said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43. Jesus replied, “Do not complain about me to one another.
44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
45. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.
46. (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God – he has seen the Father.)
47. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life.
48. I am the bread of life.
49. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50. This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die.
51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.
57. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.
58. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Many Followers Depart
59. Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60. Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, said, “This is a difficult saying! Who can understand it?”
61. When Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended?
62. Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?
63. The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
64. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
65. So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.”
Peter’s Confession
66. After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer.
67. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
68. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!”
70. Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?”
71. (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.)