Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

When Jesus[a] learned that the Pharisees(A) had heard he was making(B) and baptizing more disciples than John(C) (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), he left Judea(D) and went again to Galilee.(E) He had to travel through Samaria;(F) so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property[b] that Jacob(G) had given his son Joseph.(H) Jacob’s well(I) was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.[c]

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.(J)

“Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

“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.(Q) In fact, the water I will give him will become a well[f](R) of water springing up in him for eternal life.”(S)

15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that 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 ancestors worshiped on this mountain,(T) but 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 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 in truth.[g] Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit,(X) and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”(Y)

25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah(Z) is coming” (who is called Christ(AA)). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”(AB)

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 people, 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, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open[h] your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready[i] for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,(AI) so that 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[j] their labor.”

The Savior of the World

39 Now many Samaritans(AK) from that town believed in him because of what the woman said[k] when she testified,(AL) “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So 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.[l] 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior(AN) of the world.”[m]

A Galilean Welcome

43 After two days he left there for Galilee.(AO) 44 (Jesus himself had 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 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, since 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[n] Jesus said to him and departed.

51 While he was still going down, his servants met him saying that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at one in the afternoon[o] 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.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household.

54 Now this was also the second sign(BC) Jesus performed after he came from Judea to Galilee.(BD)

Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Other mss read the Lord
  2. 4:5 Lit piece of land
  3. 4:6 Lit about the sixth hour
  4. 4:9 Or do not share vessels with
  5. 4:9 Other mss omit For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
  6. 4:14 Or spring
  7. 4:23 Or in spirit and truth, also in v. 24
  8. 4:35 Lit Raise
  9. 4:35 Lit white
  10. 4:38 Lit you have entered into
  11. 4:39 Lit because of the woman’s word
  12. 4:41 Lit because of his word
  13. 4:42 Other mss add , the Messiah
  14. 4:50 Lit the word
  15. 4:52 Lit at the seventh hour

When Jesus therefore understood that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus maketh more disciples, and baptizeth more than John,

(Though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples,)

He left Judea, and went again into Galilee.

And he was of necessity to pass through Samaria.

He cometh therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus saith to her: Give me to drink.

For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats.

Then that Samaritan woman saith to him: How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered, and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith to him: Sir, thou hast nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered, and said to her: Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever:

14 But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.

15 The woman saith to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband:

18 For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly.

19 The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20 Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.

21 Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father.

22 You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him.

24 God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.

25 The woman saith to him: I know that the Messias cometh (who is called Christ); therefore, when he is come, he will tell us all things.

26 Jesus saith to her: I am he, who am speaking with thee.

27 And immediately his disciples came; and they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What seekest thou? or, why talkest thou with her?

28 The woman therefore left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men there:

29 Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?

30 They went therefore out of the city, and came unto him.

31 In the mean time the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat.

32 But he said to them: I have meat to eat, which you know not.

33 The disciples therefore said one to another: Hath any man brought him to eat?

34 Jesus saith to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work.

35 Do you not say, There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries; for they are white already to harvest.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together.

37 For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth.

38 I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours.

39 Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done.

40 So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days.

41 And many more believed in him because of his own word.

42 And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.

43 Now after two days, he departed thence, and went into Galilee.

44 For Jesus himself gave testimony that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.

45 And when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he had done at Jerusalem on the festival day; for they also went to the festival day.

46 He came again therefore into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum.

47 He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to him, and prayed him to come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

48 Jesus therefore said to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.

49 The ruler saith to him: Lord, come down before that my son die.

50 Jesus saith to him: Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way.

51 And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived.

52 He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.

53 The father therefore knew, that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to 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 Judea into Galilee.