John 4
New Matthew Bible
The loving conversation of Christ with the woman from Samaria by the well’s side. How he heals the ruler’s son.
4 As soon as the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard how Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples), 3 he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4 And it so was that he had to go through Samaria. 5 Then he came to a village of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 And there was Jacob’s well.
Jesus, then wearied in his journey, sat on the well. And it was about the sixth hour, 7 and there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, a Samaritan? (For the Jews will have nothing to do with the Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you the water of life.
11 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you have that water of life from? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and he himself drank from it, and his children and his animals?
13 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. 14 But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never more thirst, but the water that I give him will be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me of that water so that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. 16 Jesus said to her, Go and call your husband, and come here. 17 The woman answered and said to him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband. 18 For you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.
19 The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You Samaritans worship you know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation comes of the Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For indeed, the Father seeks such to worship him. 24 God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
25 The woman said to him, I know well the Messiah will come, who is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.
27 And at that point his disciples came, and were surprised that he talked with the woman. Yet no one said to him, What are you asking? or, Why are you talking with her? 28 The woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the village and said to the people, 29 Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Is he not the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the village and came to him.
31 And in the meanwhile his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat! 32 He said to them, I have food to eat that you know not of. 33 Then the disciples said between themselves, Has anyone brought him food?
34 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, There are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you: lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white for harvest. 36 And he who reaps receives reward, and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 And this saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labour. Other men laboured, and you have entered into their labours.
39 Many of the Samaritans of that village believed on him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all that I ever did. 40 Then when the Samaritans had come to him, they besought him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own words, 42 and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, but because we have heard him ourselves and know that this is even indeed Christ, the Saviour of the world.
43 After two days he departed from there and went away into Galilee. 44 And Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. 45 Then, as soon as he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast. For they had also gone to the feast day.
46 And Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 As soon as he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and besought him to come down and heal his son, for he was even ready to die. 48 Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and wonders, you cannot believe. 49 The nobleman said to him, Sir, come away before my child dies! 50 Jesus said to him, Go your way, your son lives.
And the man believed the words that Jesus had spoken to him, and went his way. 51 And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, Your child lives. 52 Then he enquired of them the hour when the child began to recover. And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 And the father knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus had said to him, Your son lives. And he believed, and all his household. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did after he had come out of Judea into Galilee.
John 4
International Children’s Bible
Jesus and a Samaritan Woman
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John. 2 (But really Jesus himself did not baptize people. His followers did the baptizing.) Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him. 3 So he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4 On the way he had to go through the country of Samaria.
5 In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar. This town is near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip. So he sat down beside the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 (This happened while Jesus’ followers were in town buying some food.)
9 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.[a])
10 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.”
11 The woman said, “Sir, where will you get that living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. 12 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.”
13 Jesus answered, “Every person who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 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.”
15 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.”
16 Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back here.”
17 The woman answered, “But I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. 18 Really you have had five husbands. But the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.”
19 The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”
21 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. 22 You Samaritans worship what you don’t understand. We Jews understand what we worship. Salvation comes from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit. Those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 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.”
26 Then Jesus said, “He is talking to you now. I am he.”
27 Just then his followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She said to the people, 29 “A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Christ!” 30 So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.
31 While the woman was away, the followers were begging him, “Teacher, eat something!”
32 But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the followers asked themselves, “Did somebody already bring Jesus some food?”
34 Jesus said, “My food is to do what the One who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 You say, ‘Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.’ But I tell you, open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now. 36 Even now, the one who harvests the crop is being paid. He is gathering crops for eternal life. So now the one who plants can be happy along with the one who harvests. 37 It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another harvests the crop.’ 38 I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.”[b]
39 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.” 40 The Samaritans came to Jesus and begged him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of the things he said.
42 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.”
Jesus Heals an Officer’s Son
43 Two days later, Jesus left and went to Galilee. 44 (Jesus had said before that a prophet is not respected in his own country.) 45 When Jesus arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. They had been at the Passover Feast, too.
46 Jesus went to visit Cana in Galilee again. This is where Jesus had changed the water into wine. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum. This man’s son was sick. 47 The man heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was now in Galilee. He went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son. His son was almost dead. 48 Jesus said to him, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.”
49 The officer said, “Sir, come before my child dies.”
50 Jesus answered, “Go. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. 51 On the way the man’s servants came and met him. They told him, “Your son is well.”
52 The man asked, “What time did my son begin to get well?”
They answered, “It was about one o’clock yesterday when the fever left him.”
53 The father knew that one o’clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all the people of his house believed in Jesus.
54 That was the second miracle that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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.
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.