John 4
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 When Jesus[a] knew that the Pharisees(A) heard He was making(B) and baptizing more disciples than John(C) 2 (though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea(D) and went again to Galilee.(E) 4 He had to travel through Samaria,(F) 5 so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property[b] that Jacob(G) had given his son Joseph.(H) 6 Jacob’s well(I) was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well. It was about six in the evening.[c]
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.(J)
“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 for His disciples had gone into town to buy food.
9 “How is it that You, a Jew,(K) ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan(L) woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with[d] Samaritans.[e]
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God,(M) and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”(N)
11 “Sir,”(O) said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob,(P) are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”
13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever!(Q) In fact, the water I will give him will become a well[f](R) of water springing up within him for eternal life.”(S)
15 “Sir,” the woman said to Him, “give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”
16 “Go call your husband,” He told her, “and come back here.”
17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered.
“You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,[g](T) yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”(U)
21 Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans[h] worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.(V) 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here,(W) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit,(X) and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”(Y)
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah[i](Z) is coming” (who is called Christ(AA)). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26 “I am He,”(AB) Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”
The Ripened Harvest
27 Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You talking with her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?”(AC) 30 They left the town and made their way to Him.(AD)
31 In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi,(AE) eat something.”
32 But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?”
34 “My food is to do the will of Him(AF) who sent Me(AG) and to finish His work,”(AH) Jesus told them. 35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open[j] your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready[k] for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,(AI) so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’(AJ) 38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from[l] their labor.”
The Savior of the World
39 Now many Samaritans(AK) from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said[m] when she testified,(AL) “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him,(AM) they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what He said.[n] 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior(AN) of the world.”[o]
A Galilean Welcome
43 After two days He left there for Galilee.(AO) 44 Jesus Himself testified(AP) that a prophet has no honor in his own country.(AQ) 45 When(AR) they entered Galilee, the Galileans(AS) welcomed Him because they had seen everything He did in Jerusalem(AT) during the festival.(AU) For they also had gone to the festival.
The Second Sign: Healing an Official’s Son
46 Then He went again to Cana(AV) of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum.(AW) 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea(AX) into Galilee, he went to Him and pleaded with Him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.
48 Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders,(AY) you will not believe.”(AZ)
49 “Sir,”(BA) the official said to Him, “come down before my boy dies!”
50 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what[p] Jesus said to him and departed.
51 While he was still going down, his slaves met him saying that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at seven in the morning[q] the fever left him,” they answered. 53 The father(BB) realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” Then he himself believed, along with his whole household.
54 This, therefore, was the second sign(BC) Jesus performed after He came from Judea to Galilee.(BD)
Footnotes
- John 4:1 Other mss read the Lord
- John 4:5 Lit piece of land
- John 4:6 Lit the sixth hour; see note at Jn 1:39; an alt. time reckoning would be noon
- John 4:9 Or do not share vessels with
- John 4:9 Other mss omit For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
- John 4:14 Or spring
- John 4:20 Mount Gerizim, where there had been a Samaritan temple that rivaled Jerusalem’s
- John 4:22 Samaritans is implied since the Gk verb and pronoun are pl.
- John 4:25 In the NT, the word Messiah translates the Gk word Christos (“Anointed One”), except here and in Jn 1:41 where it translates Messias.
- John 4:35 Lit Raise
- John 4:35 Lit white
- John 4:38 Lit you have entered into
- John 4:39 Lit because of the woman’s word
- John 4:41 Lit because of His word
- John 4:42 Other mss add the Messiah
- John 4:50 Lit the word
- John 4:52 Or seven in the evening; lit at the seventh hour; see note at Jn 1:39; an alt time reckoning would be at one in the afternoon
John 4
American Standard Version
4 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), 3 he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria. 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: 6 and Jacob’s [a]well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat [b]thus by the [c]well. 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 into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? [d](For Jews have no dealings with 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, [e]Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that 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 become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life. 15 The woman saith unto him, [f]Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said 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 neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: [g]for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 [h]God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people, 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. 33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are [i]white already unto harvest. 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.
39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
43 And after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
46 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain [j]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 Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. 49 The [k]nobleman saith unto him, [l]Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his [m]servants met him, saying, that his son lived. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.
Footnotes
- John 4:6 Greek spring: and so in verse 14; but not in verses 11, 12.
- John 4:6 Or, as he was. Compare 13:25.
- John 4:6 Greek spring: and so in verse 14; but not in verses 11, 12.
- John 4:9 Some ancient authorities omit For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
- John 4:11 Or, Lord
- John 4:15 Or, Lord
- John 4:23 Or, for such the Father also seeketh
- John 4:24 Or, God is spirit
- John 4:35 Or, white unto harvest. Already he that reapeth etc.
- John 4:46 Or, king’s officer
- John 4:49 Or, king’s officer
- John 4:49 Or, Lord
- John 4:51 Greek bondservants.
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