The Lord's Faithfulness Endures Forever

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Water from the Rock

17 ^(A)All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ^2 (B)Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^(C)test the Lord?” ³ But the people thirsted there for water, and ^(D)the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^(E)to stone me.” ⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^(F)which you struck the Nile, and go. ^6 (G)Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the name of the place ^(H)Massah^[a] and ^(I)Meribah,^[b] because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Preeminence of Christ

^15 (A)He is the image of ^(B)the invisible God, ^(C)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[a] him all things were created, ^(D)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(E)thrones or ^(F)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(G)through him and for him. ¹⁷ And ^(H)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(I)hold together. ¹⁸ And ^(J)he is the head of the body, the church. He is ^(K)the beginning, ^(L)the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For ^(M)in him all the ^(N)fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and ^(O)through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^(P)making peace ^(Q)by the blood of his cross.

^21 (R)And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, ^(S)doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled ^(T)in his body of flesh by his death, ^(U)in order to present you holy and blameless and ^(V)above reproach before him, ^23 (W)if indeed you continue in the faith, ^(X)stable and steadfast, not shifting from ^(Y)the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed ^(Z)in all creation^[b] under heaven, ^(AA)and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Rivers of Living Water

^37 (A)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^(B)“If anyone thirsts, let him ^(C)come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, ^(D)as^[a] the Scripture has said, ^(E)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^(F)living water.’” ³⁹ Now ^(G)this he said about the Spirit, ^(H)whom those who believed in him were to receive, ^(I)for as yet the Spirit had not been ^(J)given, ^(K)because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(L)some of the people said, “This really is ^(M)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(N)the Christ.” But some said, ^(O)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(P)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(Q)from Bethlehem, the village ^(R)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(S)a division among the people over him. ^44 (T)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45 (U)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(V)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(W)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (X)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (Y)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (Z)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(AA)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(AB)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(AC)no prophet arises from Galilee.”