John 4
King James Version
4 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his own word;
42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
John 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Jesus talks to a woman from Samaria
4 The Pharisees heard the news that many people were joining Jesus' group of disciples. They heard that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John was baptizing. 2 But really Jesus himself did not baptize anyone. It was only Jesus' disciples who baptized people. 3 Jesus discovered what the Pharisees were thinking, so he left Judea. He returned to Galilee. 4 On his way, he had to go through Samaria.
5 He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. It was near to the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph, many years earlier. 6-8 Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired after his journey and he sat down by the well. It was about midday. His disciples had gone to buy food in the town. A woman from Samaria came to the well to get some water. Jesus said to her, ‘Please give a drink to me.’ 9 The woman from Samaria said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a woman from Samaria. Why would you ask me to give you a drink?’ (The Jews usually do not talk to people who come from Samaria.)[a]
10 Jesus answered the woman, ‘You do not know what God could give to you. I asked you to give a drink to me. But you do not know who I am. If you did know, you would have asked me to give a drink to you. Then I would have given to you water that gives life.’ 11 The woman said, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where can you get this water that gives life? 12 Jacob, our ancestor, gave this well to us. He, his sons and his sheep, goats and cows all drank its water. Are you saying that you are greater than Jacob?’ 13 Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks water from this well will get thirsty again. 14 But I can give people a different kind of water. Everyone who drinks that kind of water will never get thirsty again. The water that I give them will become like a well inside them. That well will continue to provide water that gives them life for ever with God.’ 15 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give this water to me. Then I will never get thirsty again. And I will not have to continue to come here so that I can get water.’
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go and fetch your husband. Then return here.’ 17 The woman replied, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say, “I have no husband.” 18 It is true that you have had five husbands. And now you live with a man who is not your husband. What you have said is completely true.’ 19 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped God on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the right place to worship.’[b]
21 Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, woman. Soon you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or at Jerusalem. 22 You people from Samaria do not know the one that you worship. But we Jews do know him, because God's salvation comes from among the Jewish people. 23 But people will soon have a new way to worship the Father. Yes, that time has already come. Those people who really want to worship the Father will worship him in their spirits, in a true way. The Father looks for people who will worship him like that. 24 God is spirit. People who worship him must worship from their spirits in a true way.’
25 The woman said to Jesus, ‘I know that the Messiah will come. He is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ 26 Jesus said to her, ‘I, who am speaking to you, am he.’
The disciples return
27 At this moment, Jesus' disciples returned. They were surprised to see that Jesus was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you talking to her?’ 28 Then the woman left her water pot and she returned to the town. She said to the people there, 29 ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything about myself. He told me all the things that I have ever done! He must be the Messiah!’ 30 So they left the town and they went to find Jesus.
31 While that was happening, the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food that I can eat. But you do not know about it.’ 33 So the disciples asked each other, ‘Could someone have brought food to him?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My Father has sent me. I must do the things he wants me to do. I must finish the work that he has given to me to do. That is my food. 35 You often say, “It is still four more months until the plants in the farmers' fields will be ready for the harvest.” But I say that you should open your eyes. Look at the fields. The plants are ready for the harvest now. 36 The workers are already bringing in the fruit and their master is paying them. As a result, people are receiving life for ever with God. So the person who plants the seeds will be very happy. And the person who brings in the fruit will also be very happy. Both of them will be happy together. 37 You also say, “One person plants the seeds and another person brings in the fruit.” Now you can see that this is true. 38 I have sent you to bring people to me like a harvest of fruit. You did not do the work to prepare that fruit. Other people did that hard work. Now you have brought in the fruit that they worked for. That makes you happy.’
39 Many of the people who lived in that town in Samaria heard the woman's story. She had said to them, ‘He told me all the things that I have ever done!’ Because of this, they believed in Jesus. 40 So when these people came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. So he stayed there for two days. 41 Many more people believed in Jesus when they listened to his own words. 42 The people said to the woman, ‘Now we believe in him because we ourselves have heard him. We do not believe only because of what you told us. He really is the man that God has sent to save the world. We know that now.’
Jesus makes an officer's son well
43 After those two days in Samaria, Jesus left there and he went to Galilee. 44 Jesus himself had said earlier, ‘When a prophet of God visits his own town, the people there will not accept him.’ 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the people there were happy to see him. They had been in Jerusalem at the Passover festival too. They had seen all the things that Jesus had done there.
46 Jesus visited Cana again. This was the town in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. A certain man who was one of the king's officers was there. This officer had a son who was at his home in Capernaum. His son was very ill. 47 The officer had heard the news that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea. So he went to Jesus and asked him to go to Capernaum. His son was dying. So he asked Jesus strongly to make his son well again.
48 Jesus said to him, ‘You people want me to do great miracles that will surprise you. Unless you see these great miracles, none of you will ever believe my message.’ 49 The king's officer said to Jesus, ‘Sir, come with me now before my child dies.’ 50 Jesus replied, ‘Go home. Your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said. He started to go home. 51 While he was on the way, his servants met him. They told him, ‘Your child is now well. He will live.’ 52 He asked them, ‘At what time did he start to get well?’ They told him, ‘It was yesterday afternoon, at one o'clock. Then his body was no longer hot.’ 53 Then the father remembered. He knew it was the time when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So the man and all his family believed in Jesus.
54 This was the second miracle that Jesus did after he returned from Judea to Galilee.
Footnotes
- 4:9 Samaria was the part of Israel between Judah (in the south) and Galilee (in the north). The people in Samaria did worship the Lord God of Israel. But they worshipped him in a different way from how Israel's people worshipped him. They believed only some of the Old Testament and they refused to worship at Jerusalem. As a result of these differences, Israel's people were not friendly to the people from Samaria.
- 4:20 ‘This mountain’ means a mountain in Samaria called Gerizim. That was where the people from Samaria worshipped God.
John 4
New King James Version
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and (A)baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that (B)Jacob (C)gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For (D)Jews have no dealings with (E)Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the (F)gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you (G)living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but (H)whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him (I)will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 (J)The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, (K)I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on (L)this mountain, and you Jews say that in (M)Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming (N)when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship (O)what you do not know; we know what we worship, for (P)salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will (Q)worship the Father in (R)spirit (S)and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 (T)God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah (U)is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, (V)He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, (W)“I who speak to you am He.”
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man (X)who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, (Y)“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to (Z)finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes (AA)the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, (AB)for they are already white for harvest! 36 (AC)And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that (AD)both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: (AE)‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; (AF)others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him (AG)because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own (AH)word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for (AI)we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed [a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Welcome at Galilee
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For (AJ)Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, (AK)having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; (AL)for they also had gone to the feast.
A Nobleman’s Son Healed
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee (AM)where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain [b]nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, (AN)“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
John 4
English Standard Version
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and (A)baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed (B)again for Galilee. 4 (C)And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field (D)that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, (E)wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.[a]
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, (F)“Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ((G)For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you (H)living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 (I)Are you greater than our father Jacob? (J)He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but (K)whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (L)will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become (M)in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, (N)give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, (O)call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that (P)you are (Q)a prophet. 20 (R)Our fathers worshiped on (S)this mountain, but you say that (T)in Jerusalem is (U)the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, (V)“Woman, believe me, (W)the hour is coming when (X)neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 (Y)You worship what you do not know; (Z)we worship what we know, for (AA)salvation is (AB)from the Jews. 23 But (AC)the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father (AD)in spirit and (AE)truth, for the Father (AF)is 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 to him, “I know that (AG)Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, (AH)he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, (AI)“I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then (AJ)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 (AK)who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, (AL)“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, (AM)“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, (AN)“My food is (AO)to do the will of him who sent me and (AP)to 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 (AQ)the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that (AR)sower and (AS)reaper (AT)may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, (AU)‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap (AV)that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, (AW)and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans (AX)from that town believed in him (AY)because of (AZ)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 (BA)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, (BB)and we know that this is indeed (BC)the Savior (BD)of the world.”
43 After (BE)the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified (BF)that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, (BG)having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For (BH)they too had gone to the feast.
Jesus Heals an Official's Son
46 So he came again to (BI)Cana in Galilee, (BJ)where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus (BK)had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, (BL)“Unless you[c] see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down (BM)before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants[d] met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour[e] the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, (BN)and all his household. 54 (BO)This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
