John 4
Lexham English Bible
The Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well
4 Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.
5 Now he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 And Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, because he had become tired from the journey, simply sat down at the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me water[a] to drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the town so that they could buy food.) 9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How do you, being a Jew, ask from me water[b] to drink, since I[c] am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me water[d] to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep! From where then do you get this living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you,[e] who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or come here to draw water!”[f] 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have said rightly, ‘I do not have a husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truthfully!”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people[g] say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming—and now is here[h]—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for indeed the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and the ones who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever that one comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.[i]
The Disciples and the Harvest
27 And at this point[j] his disciples came, and they were astonished that he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you seek?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people,[k] 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Perhaps this one is the Christ?” 30 They went out from the town and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile the disciples were asking him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something!”[l] 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples began to say[m] to one another, “No one brought him anything[n] to eat, did they?”[o] 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.[p] 36 The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, in order that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 37 For in this instance[q] the saying is true, ‘It is one who sows and another who reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have worked, and you have entered into their work.”
The Samaritans and the Savior of the World
39 Now from that town many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking[r] him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word, 42 And they were saying to the woman, “No longer because of what you said[s] do we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world!”
Return to Galilee
43 And after the two days he departed from there into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own homeland. 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, because they[t] had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem at the feast (for they themselves had also come to the feast).
A Royal Official’s Son Is Healed
46 Now he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was at Capernaum a certain royal official whose son was sick. 47 This man, when he[u] heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, went to him and asked that he come down and heal his son, for he was about to die. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people[v] see signs and wonders, you will never believe!” 49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he departed.
51 Now as[w] he was going down, his slaves met him, saying that his child was alive. 52 So he inquired from them the hour at which he had gotten better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was that[x] same hour at which Jesus said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 Now this is again a second sign Jesus performed when he[y] came from Judea into Galilee.
Footnotes
- John 4:7 Here “water” is supplied in the translation as the understood direct object of the verb “give”
- John 4:9 Here “water” is supplied in the translation as the understood direct object of the verb “ask”
- John 4:9 Here “since” is supplied as a component of the participle (“am”) which is understood as causal
- John 4:10 Here “water” is supplied in the translation as the understood direct object of the verb “give”
- John 4:12 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated by the supplied phrase “are you” in the translation
- John 4:15 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- John 4:20 Here “people” is supplied in the translation because the Greek pronoun is plural
- John 4:23 The word “here” is not in the Greek text but is implied
- John 4:26 *Here the predicate nominative is supplied from context in the English translation
- John 4:27 The word “point” is not in the Greek text but is implied
- John 4:28 Assuming the term is used here in a generic sense to refer to persons of either gender, it should be translated “people”; if instead the term here refers only to the town leaders or elders who met at the town gate, then “men” would be appropriate
- John 4:31 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- John 4:33 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
- John 4:33 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- John 4:33 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated by the supplied phrase “did they” in the translation
- John 4:35 Some interpreters and Bible translations place the word “already” at the beginning of the next verse: “Already the one who reaps receives wages …”
- John 4:37 The word “point” is not in the Greek text but is implied
- John 4:40 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began asking”)
- John 4:42 Literally “your speaking”
- John 4:45 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had seen”) which is understood as causal
- John 4:47 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
- John 4:48 Here “people” is supplied in the translation because the Greek verb (“see”) is plural
- John 4:51 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was going down”)
- John 4:53 Some manuscripts have “that it was at that same hour”
- John 4:54 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“came”) which is understood as temporal
John 4
Young's Literal Translation
4 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees heard that Jesus more disciples doth make and baptize than John,
2 (though indeed Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples,)
3 he left Judea and went away again to Galilee,
4 and it was behoving him to go through Samaria.
5 He cometh, therefore, to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the place that Jacob gave to Joseph his son;
6 and there was there a well of Jacob. Jesus therefore having been weary from the journeying, was sitting thus on the well; it was as it were the sixth hour;
7 there cometh a woman out of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith to her, `Give me to drink;'
8 for his disciples were gone away to the city, that they may buy victuals;
9 the Samaritan woman therefore saith to him, `How dost thou, being a Jew, ask drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?' for Jews have no dealing with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, `If thou hadst known the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.'
11 The woman saith to him, `Sir, thou hast not even a vessel to draw with, and the well is deep; whence, then, hast thou the living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who did give us the well, and himself out of it did drink, and his sons, and his cattle?'
13 Jesus answered and said to her, `Every one who is drinking of this water shall thirst again;
14 but whoever may drink of the water that I will give him, may not thirst -- to the age; and the water that I will give him shall become in him a well of water, springing up to life age-during.'
15 The woman saith unto 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 not a husband.' Jesus saith to her, `Well didst thou say -- A husband I have not;
18 for five husbands thou hast had, and, now, he whom thou hast is not thy husband; this hast thou said truly.'
19 The woman saith to him, `Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet;
20 our fathers in this mountain did worship, and ye -- ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where it behoveth to worship.'
21 Jesus saith to her, `Woman, believe me, that there doth come an hour, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father;
22 ye worship what ye have not known; we worship what we have known, because the salvation is of the Jews;
23 but, there cometh an hour, and it now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also doth seek such to worship him;
24 God [is] a Spirit, and those worshipping Him, in spirit and truth it doth behove to worship.'
25 The woman saith to him, `I have known that Messiah doth come, who is called Christ, when that one may come, he will tell us all things;'
26 Jesus saith to her, `I am [he], who am speaking to thee.'
27 And upon this came his disciples, and were wondering that with a woman he was speaking, no one, however, said, `What seekest thou?' or `Why speakest thou with her?'
28 The woman then left her water-jug, and went away to the city, and saith to the men,
29 `Come, see a man, who told me all things -- as many as I did; is this the Christ?'
30 They went forth therefore out of the city, and were coming unto him.
31 And in the meanwhile his disciples were asking him, saying, `Rabbi, eat;'
32 and he said to them, `I have food to eat that ye have not known.'
33 The disciples then said one to another, `Did any one bring him anything to eat?'
34 Jesus saith to them, `My food is, that I may do the will of Him who sent me, and may finish His work;
35 do not say that it is yet four months, and the harvest cometh; lo, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and see the fields, that they are white unto harvest already.
36 `And he who is reaping doth receive a reward, and doth gather fruit to life age-during, that both he who is sowing and he who is reaping may rejoice together;
37 for in this the saying is the true one, that one is the sower and another the reaper.
38 I sent you to reap that on which ye have not laboured; others laboured, and ye into their labour have entered.
39 And from that city many believed in him, of the Samaritans, because of the word of the woman testifying, -- `He told me all things -- as many as I did.'
40 When, then, the Samaritans came unto him, they were asking him to remain with them, and he remained there two days;
41 and many more did believe because of his word,
42 and said to the woman -- `No more because of thy speaking do we believe; for we ourselves have heard and known that this is truly the Saviour of the world -- the Christ.'
43 And after the two days he went forth thence, and went away to Galilee,
44 for Jesus himself testified that a prophet in his own country shall not have honour;
45 when then, he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all things that he did in Jerusalem in the feast -- for they also went to the feast.
46 Jesus came, therefore, again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine, and there was a certain courtier, whose son was ailing in Capernaum,
47 he, having heard that Jesus is come out of Judea to Galilee, went away unto him, and was asking him that he may come down and may heal his son, for he was about to die.
48 Jesus then said unto him, `If signs and wonders ye may not see, ye will not believe.'
49 The courtier saith unto him, `Sir, come down before my child die;'
50 Jesus saith to him, `Be going on; thy son doth live.' And the man believed the word that Jesus said to him, and was going on,
51 and he now going down, his servants met him, and told, saying -- `Thy child doth live;'
52 he inquired then of them the hour in which he became better, and they said to him -- `Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him;'
53 then the father knew that [it was] in that hour in which Jesus said to him -- `Thy son doth live,' and he himself believed, and his whole house;
54 this again a second sign did Jesus, having come out of Judea to Galilee.
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