11 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, ^qwhat do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond¹ branch.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

13 The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the ^rnorth disaster² shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling ^sall the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall ^tset his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in ^uforsaking me. They have ^vmade offerings to other gods and worshiped the ^wworks of their own hands. 17 But you, ^xdress yourself for work;³ arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 And I, behold, ^yI make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and ^zbronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Greeting

1 Paul, a servant¹ of Christ Jesus, ^acalled to be an apostle, ^bset apart for the ^cgospel of God, 2 which he ^dpromised beforehand ^ethrough his prophets ^fin the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was ^gdescended from David² according to the flesh 4 and was ^hdeclared to be the ⁱSon of God ^jin power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 ^kthrough whom we have received grace and ^lapostleship to bring about the ^mobedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are ⁿcalled to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and ^ocalled to be ^psaints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Longing to Go to Rome

8 First, ^qI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because ^ryour faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For ^sGod is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that ^twithout ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 ^uFor I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual ^vgift to ^wstrengthen you— 12 that is, that we may ^xbe mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,³ that I have often intended to come to you (but ^ythus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ^zharvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 ^aI am under obligation both to Greeks and to ^bbarbarians,^{4 c}both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager ^dto preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. ^uCan this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, ^v“My food is to do ^wthe will of him who sent me and ^xto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^ythe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

39 ^zMany Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed ^athe Savior of the world.”