John 4-5

Amplified Bible

Jesus Goes to Galilee

4 So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been told that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), ³ He left Judea and returned again to Galilee. ⁴ Now ^[a]He had to go through ^[b]Samaria. ⁵ So He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; ⁶ and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (noon).

The Samaritan Woman

⁷ Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”— ⁸ For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food— ⁹ The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a ^[c]Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” ¹¹ She said to Him, “Sir, ^[d]You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? ¹² Are You greater than our father ^[e]Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” ¹³ Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. ¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” ¹⁶ At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷ The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your ^[f]husband. You have said this truthfully.” ¹⁹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” ²¹ Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. ²⁴ God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah).”

²⁷ Just then His disciples came, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. However, no one said, “What are You asking about?” or, “Why are You talking to her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?” ³⁰ So the people left the city and were coming to Him.

³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus [to have a meal], saying, “Rabbi (Teacher), eat.” ³² But He told 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, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to completely finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘It is still four months until the harvest comes?’ Look, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields and see, they are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the reaper is receiving his wages and he is gathering fruit for eternal life; so that he who plants and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true, ‘One [person] sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap [a crop] for which you have not worked. Others have worked and you have been privileged to reap the results of their work.”

The Samaritans

³⁹ Now many Samaritans from that city believed in Him and trusted Him [as Savior] because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked Him to remain with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed in Him [with a deep, abiding trust] because of His word [His personal message to them]; ⁴² and they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; for [now] we have heard Him for ourselves and know [with confident assurance] that this One is truly the Savior of [all] the world.”

⁴³ After the two days He went on from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans ^[g]welcomed Him, since they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they too came to the feast.

Healing a Nobleman’s Son

⁴⁶ So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a ^[h]certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he ^[i]went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you [people] see [miraculous] signs and wonders, you [simply] will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official pleaded with Him, “Sir, do come down [at once] before my child dies!” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives!” The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home. ⁵¹ As he was already going down [the road], his servants met him and reported that his son was living [and was healthy]. ⁵² So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives”; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior]. ⁵⁴ This is the second sign (attesting miracle) that Jesus performed [in Cana] after He had come from Judea to Galilee [revealing that He is the Messiah].

The Healing at Bethesda

5 Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a ^[j]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades). ³ In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, ^[k][waiting for the stirring of the water; ⁴ for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.] ⁵ There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷ The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and ^[l]picked up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not ^[m]permitted to pick up your pallet [because it is unlawful].” ¹¹ He answered them, “The Man who healed me and gave me back my strength was the One who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the Man who told you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [unnoticed] since there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews began to persecute Jesus continually because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now [He has never ceased working], and I too am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with God

¹⁸ This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Him, for not only was He breaking the Sabbath [from their viewpoint], but He was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹ So Jesus answered them by saying, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son ^[n]can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way. ²⁰ For the Father dearly loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be filled with wonder. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life [and allows them to live on], even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment [that is, the prerogative of judging] to the Son [placing it entirely into His hands], ²³ so that all will give honor (reverence, homage) to the Son just as they give honor to the Father. [In fact] the one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who has sent Him.

²⁴ “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins—the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.

Two Resurrections

²⁵ I assure you and most solemnly say to you, a time is coming and is [here] now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in Himself [and is self-existent], even so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself [and be self-existent]. ²⁷ And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is a Son of Man [sinless humanity, qualifying Him to sit in judgment over mankind].^{(A) 28} Do not be surprised at this; for a time is coming when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹ and they will come out—those who did good things [will come out] to a resurrection of [new] life, but those who did evil things [will come out] to a resurrection of judgment [that is, to be sentenced].^(B)

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own initiative or authority. Just as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just (fair, righteous, unbiased), because I do not seek My own will, but only the will of Him who sent Me.

³¹ “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not ^[o]valid. ³² There is another [My Father] who testifies about Me, and I know [without any doubt] that His testimony on My behalf is true and valid.

Testimony of John

³³ You have sent [an inquiry] to ^[p]John [the Baptist] and he has testified [as an eyewitness] to the truth. ³⁴ But the testimony I receive is not from man [a merely human witness]; but I say these things so that you may be saved [that is, have eternal life]. ³⁵ John was the lamp that kept on burning and shining [to show you the way], and you were willing for a while to rejoice in his light.^(C)

Testimony of Works

³⁶ But the testimony which I have is far greater than the testimony of John; for the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very same works [that is, the miracles and proofs of My deity] that I am [now] doing—testify about Me, [by providing evidence] that the Father has sent Me.

Testimony of the Father

³⁷ And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form [His majesty and greatness—what He is like]. ³⁸ You do not have His word (Scripture) abiding in you [actually living in your hearts and minds], because you do not believe in Him whom He has sent.

Testimony of the Scripture

^39 [q]You search and keep on searching and examining the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and yet it is those [very Scriptures] that testify about Me; ⁴⁰ and still you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. ⁴¹ I do not receive glory and approval from men; ⁴² but I know you and recognize that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name and with His power, and you do not receive Me [because your minds are closed]; but if another comes in his own name and with no authority or power except his own, you will receive him and give your approval to an imposter. ⁴⁴ How can you believe [in Me], when you [seek and] receive glory and approval from one another, and yet you do not seek the glory and approval which comes from the one and only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I [am the One who] will accuse you before the Father. There [already] is one who accuses you: Moses, [the very one] in whom you have placed your hope [for salvation]. ⁴⁶ For if you believed and relied on [the Scriptures written by] Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].^{(D) 47} But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”