Reflective Bible Study

¹⁸ So I say, “My glory has faded away.
    My hope in the Lord is gone.”

¹⁹ I remember how I suffered and wandered.
    I remember how bitter my life was.
²⁰ I remember it very well.
    My spirit is very sad deep down inside me.
²¹ But here is something else I remember.
    And it gives me hope.

²² The Lord loves us very much.
    So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
    His loving concern never fails.
²³ His great love is new every morning.
    Lord, how faithful you are!
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
    So I will put my hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who put their hope in him.
    He is good to those who look to him.
²⁶ It is good when people wait quietly
    for the Lord to save them.
²⁷ It is good for a man to carry a heavy load of suffering
    while he is young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone and not say anything.
    The Lord has placed that load on him.
²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust.
    There might still be hope for him.
³⁰ Let him turn his cheek toward those who would slap him.
    Let him be filled with shame.

³¹ The Lord doesn’t turn his back
    on people forever.
³² He might bring suffering.
    But he will also show loving concern.
    How great his faithful love is!
³³ He doesn’t want to bring pain
    or suffering to people.

Read Lamentations 3:18-33 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹⁸ This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David’s family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

²⁰ While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. ²¹ Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ²³ “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

²⁴ After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do. ²⁵ But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

Read Matthew 1:18-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹ The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John, ² although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his followers did. ³ Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea and went back to Galilee. ⁴ But on the way he had to go through the country of Samaria.

⁵ In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about twelve o’clock noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” ⁸ (This happened while Jesus’ followers were in town buying some food.)

⁹ The woman said, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink, since you are a Jewish man and I am a Samaritan woman.” (Jewish people are not friends with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus said, “If you only knew the free gift of God and who it is that is asking you for water, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ The woman said, “Sir, where will you get this living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. ¹² Are you greater than Jacob, our father, who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and flocks?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty again and will not have to come back here to get more water.”

¹⁶ Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back here.”

¹⁷ The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. ¹⁸ Really you have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.”

¹⁹ The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”

²¹ Jesus said, “Believe me, woman. The time is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will you actually worship the Father. ²² You Samaritans worship something you don’t understand. We understand what we worship, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and that time is here already. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming.” (Messiah is the One called Christ.) “When the Messiah comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus said, “I am he—I, the one talking to you.”

²⁷ Just then his followers came back from town and were surprised to see him talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Read John 4:1-27 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

¹⁶ Make sure you don’t commit a horrible sin. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don’t make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else. ¹⁷ Don’t make one that looks like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the sky. ¹⁸ Don’t make a statue that looks like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish that swims in the water.

¹⁹ When you look up at the heavens, you will see the sun and moon. And you will see huge numbers of stars. Don’t let anyone tempt you to bow down to the sun, moon or stars. Don’t worship things the Lord your God has provided for all of the nations on earth.

Read Deuteronomy 4:16-19 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!