Those people who know they have great spiritual needs are happy.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Those who are sad now are happy.

God will comfort them.

Those who are humble are happy.

The earth will belong to them.

Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy.

God will fully satisfy them.

Now those people live in darkness. But they will see a great light. They live in a place that is very dark. But a light will shine on them. God, you will cause the nation to grow. You will make the people happy. And they will show their happiness to you. It will be like the joy during harvest time. It will be like the joy of people     taking what they have won in war. Like the time you defeated Midian, you will take away their heavy load. You will take away the heavy pole from their backs. You will take away the rod the enemy uses to punish your people. Every boot that marched in battle will be destroyed. Every uniform stained with blood will be destroyed.     They will be thrown into the fire.

A child will be born to us. God will give a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace. Power and peace will be in his kingdom. It will continue to grow. He will rule as king on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom. He will make it strong, by ruling with goodness and fair judgment. He will rule it forever and ever. The Lord of heaven’s armies will do this because of his strong love for his people.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world!  This is the One I was talking about. I said, ‘A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’  Even I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing with water so that the people of Israel could know who he is.” Then John said, “I did not know who the Christ was. But God sent me to baptize with water. And God told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. That man is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” John said, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven. The Spirit looked like a dove and rested on him. I have seen this happen. So I tell people: ‘He is the Son of God.’”

The woman said, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink. You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan.” (Jews are not friends with Samaritans. Jesus said, “You don’t know what God gives. And you don’t know who asked you for a drink. If you knew, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.” The woman said, “Sir, where will you get that living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. Are you greater than Jacob, our father? Jacob is the one who gave us this well. He drank from it himself. Also, his sons and flocks drank from this well.” Jesus answered, “Every person who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become a spring of water flowing inside him. It will give him eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again. And I will not have to come back here to get more water.”

The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.” Jesus said,  “Believe me, woman. The time is coming when you will not have to be in Jerusalem or on this mountain to worship the Father. You Samaritans worship what you don’t understand. We Jews understand what we worship. Salvation comes from the Jews.  The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. That time is now here. And these are the kinds of worshipers the Father wants. God is spirit. Those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Then Jesus said, “He is talking to you now. I am he.”

Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman said: “He told me everything I have ever done.”  The Samaritans came to Jesus and begged him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of the things he said. They said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us. But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”