John 4-6

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4 Now when Jesus^[a] learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”^{(A) 2} (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized), ³ he left Judea and started back to Galilee. ⁴ But he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.^{(B) 6} Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)^{[b](C) 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 living water.”^{(D) 11} The woman said to him, “Sir,^[c] you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”^{(E) 15} The woman said to him, “Sir,^[d] give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”^(F)

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 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 have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir,^[e] I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you^[f] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”^{(G) 21} Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you^[g] will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.^{(H) 22} You^[h] worship what you^[i] do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.^{(I) 23} But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.^{(J) 24} God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”^{(K) 25} The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”^{(L) 26} Jesus said to her, “I am he,^[j] the one who is speaking to you.”^(M)

²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah,^[k] can he?”^{(N) 30} They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 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, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.^{(O) 35} Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.^{(P) 36} The reaper is already receiving^[l] wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.^{(Q) 37} For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’^{(R) 38} I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.”^{(S) 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 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, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”^(T)

Jesus Returns to Galilee

⁴³ When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee^{(U) 44} (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country).^{(V) 45} When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they, too, had gone to the festival.^(W)

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

⁴⁶ Then he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum.^{(X) 47} When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.^{(Y) 48} Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you^[m] see signs and wonders you will not believe.”^{(Z) 49} The official said to him, “Sir,^[n] come down before my little boy dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”^[o] The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”^[p] So he himself believed, along with his whole household.^{(AA) 54} Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.^(AB)

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^[q] Beth-zatha,^[r] which has five porticoes.^{(AC) 3} In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people.^{[s] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The ill man answered him, “Sir,^[t] I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”^{(AD) 9} At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.^{(AE) 10} So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”^{(AF) 11} But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’ ” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in^[u] the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”^{(AG) 15} The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”^{(AH) 18} For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.^(AI)

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father^[v] does, the Son does likewise.^{(AJ) 20} The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.^{(AK) 21} Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.^{(AL) 22} The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,^{(AM) 23} so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.^{(AN) 24} Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.^(AO)

²⁵ “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.^{(AP) 26} For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, ²⁷ and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.^{(AQ) 28} Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and will come out: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.^(AR)

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.^(AS)

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.^{(AT) 32} There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.^{(AU) 33} You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.^{(AV) 34} Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.^{(AW) 36} But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.^{(AX) 37} And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,^{(AY) 38} and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.^(AZ)

³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.^{(BA) 40} Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ I do not accept glory from humans. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God in^[w] you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?^{[x](BB) 45} Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.^{(BC) 46} If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.^{(BD) 47} But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

Feeding the Five Thousand

6 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.^{[y] 2} A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”^{(BE) 6} He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they^[z] sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.^{(BF) 12} When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”^(BG)

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.^(BH)

Jesus Walks on the Water

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I;^[aa] do not be afraid.” ²¹ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

The Bread from Heaven

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone.^{(BI) 23} But some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.^{(BJ) 24} So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.^(BK)

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves.^{(BL) 27} Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”^{(BM) 28} Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”^{(BN) 30} So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?^{(BO) 31} Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”^{(BP) 32} Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is that which^[ab] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”^{(BQ) 34} They said to him, “Sir,^[ac] give us this bread always.”^(BR)

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.^{(BS) 36} But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.^{(BT) 37} Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away,^{(BU) 38} for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.^{(BV) 39} And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.^{(BW) 40} This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”^(BX)

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”^{(BY) 43} Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.^{(BZ) 45} It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.^{(CA) 46} Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.^{(CB) 47} Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.^{(CC) 48} I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”^(CD)

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”^{(CE) 53} So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.^{(CF) 54} Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,^{(CG) 55} for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.^{(CH) 57} Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?^{(CI) 62} Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?^{(CJ) 63} It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.^{(CK) 65} And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”^(CL)

⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”^{[ad](CM) 70} Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”^{(CN) 71} He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot,^[ae] for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.