John 4
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 When Jesus[a] learned that the Pharisees(A) had heard he was making(B) and baptising more disciples than John(C) 2 (though Jesus himself was not baptising, 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 noon.[c]
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.(J)
‘Give me a drink,’ Jesus said to her, 8 because 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.(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 and 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 worshipped 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 worshippers 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 labour for; others have laboured, and you have benefited from[j] their labour.’
The Saviour 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 for 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 Saviour(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 honour 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) realised 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
- 4:1 Other mss read the Lord
- 4:5 Lit piece of land
- 4:6 Lit about the sixth hour
- 4:9 Or do not share vessels with
- 4:9 Other mss omit For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
- 4:14 Or spring
- 4:23 Or in spirit and truth, also in v. 24
- 4:35 Lit Raise
- 4:35 Lit white
- 4:38 Lit you have entered into
- 4:39 Lit because of the woman’s word
- 4:41 Lit because of his word
- 4:42 Other mss add, the Messiah
- 4:50 Lit the word
- 4:52 Lit at the seventh hour
John 4
Good News Translation
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. (2 Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) 3 So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; 4 on his way there he had to go through Samaria.
5 (A)In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the trip, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (8 His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)
9 (B)The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)[a]
10 Jesus answered, “If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? 12 It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”
13 Jesus answered, “Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”
15 “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”
16 “Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”
17 “I don't have a husband,” she answered.
Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you don't have a husband. 18 You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”
19 “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. 20 “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. 23 But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. 24 God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26 Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”
27 At that moment Jesus' disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, 29 “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” 30 So they left the town and went to Jesus.
31 In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”
32 But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. 35 You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! 36 The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life; so the one who plants and the one who reaps will be glad together. 37 For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’ 38 I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work; others worked there, and you profit from their work.”
39 Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of his message, 42 and they told the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world.”
Jesus Heals an Official's Son
43 After spending two days there, Jesus left and went to Galilee. 44 (C)For he himself had said, “Prophets are not respected in their own country.” 45 (D)When he arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything that he had done during the festival.
46 (E)Then Jesus went back to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. A government official was there whose son was sick in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to go to Capernaum and heal his son, who was about to die. 48 Jesus said to him, “None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders.”
49 “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!”
The man believed Jesus' words and went. 51 On his way home his servants met him with the news, “Your boy is going to live!”
52 He asked them what time it was when his son got better, and they answered, “It was one o'clock yesterday afternoon when the fever left him.” 53 Then the father remembered that it was at that very hour when Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his family believed.
54 This was the second miracle that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Footnotes
- John 4:9 Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use; or Jews will have nothing to do with Samaritans.
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Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
