John 4
New Matthew Bible
The loving conversation of Christ with the woman from Samaria by the well’s side. How he heals the ruler’s son.
4 As soon as the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard how Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples), 3 he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4 And it so was that he had to go through Samaria. 5 Then he came to a village of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 And there was Jacob’s well.
Jesus, then wearied in his journey, sat on the well. And it was about the sixth hour, 7 and there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, a Samaritan? (For the Jews will have nothing to do with the Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you the water of life.
11 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you have that water of life from? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and he himself drank from it, and his children and his animals?
13 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. 14 But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never more thirst, but the water that I give him will be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me of that water so that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. 16 Jesus said to her, Go and call your husband, and come here. 17 The woman answered and said to him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband. 18 For you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.
19 The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You Samaritans worship you know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation comes of the Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For indeed, the Father seeks such to worship him. 24 God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
25 The woman said to him, I know well the Messiah will come, who is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.
27 And at that point his disciples came, and were surprised that he talked with the woman. Yet no one said to him, What are you asking? or, Why are you talking with her? 28 The woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the village and said to the people, 29 Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Is he not the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the village and came to him.
31 And in the meanwhile his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat! 32 He said to them, I have food to eat that you know not of. 33 Then the disciples said between themselves, Has anyone brought him food?
34 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, There are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you: lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white for harvest. 36 And he who reaps receives reward, and gathers fruit unto life eternal, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 And this saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labour. Other men laboured, and you have entered into their labours.
39 Many of the Samaritans of that village believed on him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all that I ever did. 40 Then when the Samaritans had come to him, they besought him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own words, 42 and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, but because we have heard him ourselves and know that this is even indeed Christ, the Saviour of the world.
43 After two days he departed from there and went away into Galilee. 44 And Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. 45 Then, as soon as he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast. For they had also gone to the feast day.
46 And Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 As soon as he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and besought him to come down and heal his son, for he was even ready to die. 48 Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and wonders, you cannot believe. 49 The nobleman said to him, Sir, come away before my child dies! 50 Jesus said to him, Go your way, your son lives.
And the man believed the words that Jesus had spoken to him, and went his way. 51 And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, Your child lives. 52 Then he enquired of them the hour when the child began to recover. And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 And the father knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus had said to him, Your son lives. And he believed, and all his household. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did after he had come out of Judea into Galilee.
John 4
Complete Jewish Bible
4 When Yeshua learned that the P’rushim had heard he was making and immersing more talmidim than Yochanan 2 (although it was not Yeshua himself who immersed but his talmidim), 3 Yeshua left Y’hudah and set out again for the Galil. 4 This meant that he had to pass through Shomron.
5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh’khem, near the field Ya‘akov had given to his son Yosef. 6 Ya‘akov’s Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from his travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon. 7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water; and Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.) 9 The woman from Shomron said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?” (For Jews don’t associate with people from Shomron.) 10 Yeshua answered her, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”
11 She said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Ya‘akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle.” 13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”
15 “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so that I won’t have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 She answered, “I don’t have a husband.” Yeshua said to her, “You’re right, you don’t have a husband! 18 You’ve had five husbands in the past, and you’re not married to the man you’re living with now! You’ve spoken the truth!”
19 “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” the woman replied. 20 “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.” 21 Yeshua said, “Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. 22 You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. 24 God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly.”
25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Yeshua said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”
27 Just then, his talmidim arrived. They were amazed that he was talking with a woman; but none of them said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water-jar, went back to the town and said to the people there, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could it be that this is the Messiah?” 30 They left the town and began coming toward him.
31 Meanwhile, the talmidim were urging Yeshua, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he answered, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” 33 At this, the talmidim asked one another, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 Yeshua said to them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants and to bring his work to completion. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest’? Well, what I say to you is: open your eyes and look at the fields! They’re already ripe for harvest! 36 The one who reaps receives his wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the reaper and the sower may be glad together — 37 for in this matter, the proverb, ‘One sows and another reaps,’ holds true. 38 I sent you to reap what you haven’t worked for. Others have done the hard labor, and you have benefited from their work.”
39 Many people from that town in Shomron put their trust in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all the things I did.” 40 So when these people from Shomron came to him, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed two days, 41 and many more came to trust because of what he said. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer trust because of what you said, because we have heard for ourselves. We know indeed that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
43 After the two days, he went on from there toward the Galil. 44 Now Yeshua himself said, “A prophet is not respected in his own country.” 45 But when he arrived in the Galil, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen all he had done at the festival in Yerushalayim; since they had been there too.
46 He went again to Kanah in the Galil, where he had turned the water into wine. An officer in the royal service was there; his son was ill in K’far-Nachum. 47 This man, on hearing that Yeshua had come from Y’hudah to the Galil, went and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Yeshua answered, “Unless you people see signs and miracles, you simply will not trust!” 49 The officer said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Yeshua replied, “You may go, your son is alive.” The man believed what Yeshua said and left. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him with the news that his son was alive 52 So he asked them at what time he had gotten better; and they said, “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon.” 53 The father knew that that was the very hour when Yeshua had told him, “Your son is alive”; and he and all his household trusted. 54 This was a second sign that Yeshua did; he did it after he had come from Y’hudah into the Galil.
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.