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].