John 4
New Living Translation
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 Jesus[a] knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.[b] She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim,[c] where our ancestors worshiped?”
21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”[d]
27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
33 “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[e] for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
43 At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. 44 He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. 45 Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.
46 As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.
48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”
49 The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”
50 Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.
51 While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 52 He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 53 Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.
John 4
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Jesus meets a Samaritan woman
4 1-7 Now when the Lord found that the Pharisees had heard that “Jesus is making and baptising more disciples than John”—although, in fact, it was not Jesus who did the baptising but his disciples—he left Judea and went off again to Galilee, which meant passing through Samaria. There he came to a little town called Sychar, which is near the historic plot of land that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph, and “Jacob’s Spring” was there. Jesus, tired with his journey, sat down beside it, just as he was. The time was about midday. Presently, a Samaritan woman arrived to draw some water.
8-9 “Please give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, for his disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 “If you knew what God can give,” Jesus replied, “and if you knew who it is that said to you, ‘Give me a drink’, I think you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water!”
11-12 “Sir,” said the woman, “you have nothing to draw water with and this well is deep—where can you get your living water? Are you a greater man than our ancestor, Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank here himself with his family, and his cattle?”
13-14 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may stop being thirsty—and not have to come here to draw water any more!”
16 “Go and call your husband and then come back here,” said Jesus to her.
17-18 “I haven’t got a husband!” the woman answered. “You are quite right in saying, ‘I haven’t got a husband’,” replied Jesus, “for you have had five husbands and the man you have now is not your husband at all. Yes, you spoke the simple truth when you said that.”
19-20 “Sir,” said the woman again, “I can see that you are a prophet! Now our ancestors worshipped on this hill-side, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship—”
21-24 “Believe me,” returned Jesus, “the time is coming when worshipping the Father will not be a matter of ‘on this hill-side’ or ‘in Jerusalem’. Nowadays you are worshipping with your eyes shut. We Jews are worshipping with our eyes open, for the salvation of mankind is to come from our race. Yet the time is coming, yes, and has already come, when true worshippers will worship in spirit and in reality. Indeed, the Father looks for men who will worship him like that. God is spirit, and those who worship him can only worship in spirit and in reality.”
25 “Of course I know that Messiah is coming,” returned the woman, “you know, the one who is called Christ. When he comes he will make everything plain to us.”
26 “I am Christ speaking to you now,” said Jesus.
27-30 At this point his disciples arrived, and were surprised to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “What are you talking to her about?” So the woman left her water-pot behind and went into the town and began to say to the people, “Come out and see the man who told me everything I’ve ever done! Can this be ‘Christ’?” So they left the town and started to come to Jesus.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were begging him, “Master, do eat something.”
32 To which Jesus replied, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 This, of course, made the disciples ask each other, “Do you think anyone has brought him any food?”
34-38 Jesus said to them, “My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don’t you say, ‘Four months more and then comes the harvest’? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, ‘One man sows and another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never laboured; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labours.”
39-42 Many of the Samaritans who came out of that town believed in him through the woman’s testimony—“He told me everything I’ve ever done.” And when they arrived they begged him to stay with them. He did stay there two days and far more believed in him because of what he himself said. As they told the woman, “We don’t believe any longer now because of what you said. We have heard him with our own ears. We know now that this must be the man who will save the world!”
Jesus, in Cana again, heals in response to faith
43-47 After the two days were over, Jesus left and went away to Galilee. (For Jesus himself testified that a prophet enjoys no honour in his own country.) And on his arrival the people received him with open arms. For they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem during the festival, since they had themselves been present. So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, the place where he had made the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official whose son was very ill. When he heard that Jesus had left Judea and had arrived in Galilee, he went off to see him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was by this time at the point of death.
48 Jesus said to him, “I suppose you will never believe unless you see signs and wonders!”
49 “Sir,” returned the official, “please come down before my boy dies!”
50 “You can go home,” returned Jesus, “your son is alive and well.” And the man believed what Jesus had said to him and went on his way.
51-54 On the journey back his servants met him with the report, “Your son is alive and well.” So he asked them at what time he had begun to recover, and they replied: “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon”. Then the father knew that this must have happened at the very moment when Jesus had said to him, “Your son is alive and well.” And he and his whole household believed in Jesus. This, then, was the second sign that Jesus gave on his return from Judea to Galilee.
John 4
Expanded Bible
Jesus and a Samaritan Woman
4 The Pharisees [C a religious party which strictly observed OT laws and later customs] heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more ·followers [disciples] than John, 2 although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his ·followers [disciples] did. 3 Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea [C the southern region of Israel] and went back to Galilee [C the northern region of Israel; Mark 1:14]. 4 But on the way he had to go through the country of Samaria [C the central region occupied by a people disliked because they were only partly Jewish].
5 In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar [C perhaps Shechem or a village near it; compare Gen. 33:18–19; 48:22], which is near the ·field [plot of ground] Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from ·his long trip [L the journey], so he sat down beside the well. It was about ·twelve o’clock noon [L the sixth hour; C hours were counted from dawn, about 6 AM]. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to the well to ·get some [draw] water, Jesus said to her, “·Please give [L Give] me a drink.” 8 (This happened while Jesus’ ·followers [disciples] were in town buying some food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said, “·I am surprised [L How is it…?] that you ask me for a drink, since you are a ·Jewish man [L a Jew] and I am a Samaritan woman.” (Jewish people ·are not friends [do not share things; have no dealings] with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus ·said [answered; replied], “If you only knew the ·free gift [L gift] of God and who it is that is asking you ·for water [L “Give me a drink”], you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” [C “Living water” in Greek can mean fresh running water, but Jesus means “water which gives eternal life”; the woman misunderstands this play on words.]
11 The woman said, “Sir, where will you get this living water? The well is very deep, and you have ·nothing to get water with [L no bucket]. 12 Are you greater than Jacob, our father [C a patriarch recognized by both Jews and Samaritans], who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and ·flocks [or livestock]?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again [C because physical water only temporarily satisfies thirst], 14 but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty [C because spiritual renewal/eternal life is forever]. [L But; Indeed] The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life [Is. 12:3; 49:10; 55:1–3; Rev. 7:16].”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty again and will not have to come back here to ·get [draw] more water.” [C Her response indicates she does not understand.]
16 Jesus told her, “Go ·get [call] your husband and come back here.”
17 The woman answered, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. 18 ·Really [For] you have had five husbands, and the man you ·live with [L have] now is not your husband. You told the truth.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ·ancestors [forefathers; L fathers] worshiped on this mountain [C the Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim near Shechem], but you [C plural, referring to the Jews] say that Jerusalem [C Mount Zion, the location of the temple] is the place where people must worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman [C a respectful form of address in that culture; 2:4]. The ·time [L hour; C the time of salvation established by the death and resurrection of Christ; see 2:4] is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will you ·actually worship [L worship] the Father. 22 You Samaritans worship something you don’t understand. We [C Jews] understand what we worship, because salvation comes from the Jews [C because the Messiah who brings salvation comes through the Jews]. 23 [L But] The ·time [L hour; see 4:21] is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in ·spirit [or the Spirit] and truth, and that time ·is here already [has now come; is now here]. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is ·spirit [Spirit], and those who worship him must worship in ·spirit [Spirit] and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming.” (Messiah is the One called Christ [C both Hebrew Mashiach and Greek Christos mean “Anointed One”; see 1:41].) “When ·the Messiah [L that one] comes, he will ·explain [report; announce] everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus said to her, “I am he—I, the one talking to you.”
27 Just then his ·followers [disciples] came back from town and were surprised to see him talking with a woman [C some Jews thought it a waste of time for rabbis to teach women]. 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 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Do you think he might be the ·Christ [Messiah]?” 30 So the people left the town and ·went to see Jesus [L were coming toward him].
31 Meanwhile, his ·followers [disciples] were ·begging [urging] him, “·Teacher [L Rabbi], eat something.”
32 But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about [Deut. 8:3].”
33 So the ·followers [disciples] asked ·themselves [each other], “·Did somebody already bring him food [L No one brought him anything to eat, did they]?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do ·what the One who sent me wants me to do [L the will of the One who sent me] and to ·finish [complete] his work. 35 ·You have a saying [L Do you not say…?], ‘Four more months till harvest.’ ·But [Look; T Behold] I tell you, ·open your eyes and look at [L lift up your eyes and see] the fields ·ready [ripe; L white] for harvest now. 36 Already, the one who ·harvests [reaps] is ·being paid [L receiving wages] and is gathering ·crops [fruit] for eternal life. So the one who ·plants [sows] and the one who ·harvests [reaps] ·celebrate [rejoice] ·at the same time [together]. 37 [L For] ·Here [in this case] the saying is true, ‘One person ·plants [sows], and another ·harvests [reaps].’ 38 I sent you to ·harvest a crop that [reap what] you did not ·work [labor; toil] on. Others did the ·work [labor; toil], and you ·get to finish up [reap the benefits of; L have entered into] their work.”
39 Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because of ·what the woman said [L the word of the woman who testified]: “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 When the Samaritans came to Jesus, they ·begged [urged; asked] him to stay with them, so he stayed there two more days. 41 And many more believed because of ·the things he said [L his word].
42 They said to the woman, “·First we believed in Jesus [L It is no longer] because of what you said, 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(A)
43 Two days later, Jesus left [L from there] and went to Galilee [C the northern region of Israel]. 44 (Jesus had ·said [testified; witnessed] before that a prophet ·is not respected [L has no honor] in his own ·country [or hometown; C probably a reference to Galilee, but some think Judea].) 45 When [L therefore] Jesus arrived in Galilee, the ·people there [L Galileans] ·welcomed [received] him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, because they had been there, too.
46 Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine [2:1–11]. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and ·begged [urged; asked] him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. 48 Jesus said to him, “·You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me [L Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe; 2:23–25; 6:26].”
49 The [royal] officer said, “Sir, ·come [L come down] before my child dies.”
50 Jesus ·answered [said to him], “Go. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus told him [C he did not need “signs” and miracles] and went home. 51 On the way the man’s ·servants [slaves; bond-servants] came and met him and told him, “Your son is alive.”
52 [L So/Then] The man asked, “What ·time [hour] did my son begin to get well?”
They answered, “Yesterday at ·one o’clock [L the seventh hour; C hours were counted from dawn, about 6 AM] the fever left him.”
53 [L So/Then] The father knew that ·one o’clock was the exact time that [L in that hour] Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all ·the people who lived in his house [his household] believed in Jesus.
54 That was the second ·miracle [L sign; C the first sign was turning water into wine; 2:1–11] Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.