John 4
Worldwide English (New Testament)
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was getting people to follow him and was baptizing them. (Jesus' disciples baptized them, not he himself.) He now had more followers than John.
2 The Lord knew that they had heard about it. So he left Judea and went back to Galilee again.
3 He had to pass through the country of Samaria.
4 He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
5 Jacob's well was there. Jesus was very tired from walking on the road. So he sat down by the well. It was about midday.
6 A woman from Samaria came to the well to draw water. Jesus said, `Please give me a drink of water.'
7 His disciples had gone into the town to buy some food.
8 The woman said to Jesus, `Why do you ask me for a drink of water? You are a Jew and I am from Samaria.' (The Jews are not friends with the people of Samaria.)
9 Jesus answered her, `You do not know what God gives people. And you do not know who is asking you for a drink. If you knew him, then it is you who would have asked for a drink of water. He would give you living water.'
10 The woman said, `Sir, you have nothing to draw with. The well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
11 Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well? He drank water from this well, also his children and cattle.'
12 Jesus answered her, `Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.
13 But anyone who drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. The water I give him will become a well inside of him that will never be dry. It will give him life for ever.'
14 The woman said, `Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again. I will not need to come here to draw water.'
15 Jesus said, `Go, call your husband, then come here.'
16 She said, `I have no husband.' Jesus said, `You say, "I have no husband." That is true.
17 You have had five husbands, but the man you are living with now is not your husband. You have told the truth.'
18 The woman said, `Sir, this shows me you are a prophet of God.
19 Our fathers came to this mountain to worship God. But you people say Jerusalem is the place people must go to worship him.'
20 Jesus said, `Woman, believe what I say. The time is coming when you will not come to this mountain or to Jerusalem to worship my Father.
21 You worship one whom you do not know. But we know whom we worship. The Saviour will come of the Jews.
22 But the time is coming, yes, the time is here already, when those who worship God will worship him in spirit and in a true way. My Father is looking for that kind of people to worship him.
23 God is Spirit. Those who worship him must do so in spirit and in a true way.'
24 The woman said to Jesus, `I know that Messiah is coming. His name is Christ. When he comes he will tell us everything.'
25 Jesus said to her, `I who am talking to you am he.'
26 When Jesus had said this, his disciples came back. They were surprised to hear him talking to a woman. But not one of them asked, `What do you want?' or, `Why are you talking to her?'
27 The woman left her water-pot and went back to the town.
28 She said to the people, `Come, I will show you a man who has told me everything I have done. Can this be the Christ?'
29 The people left the town and went to him.
30 While they were on the way coming to Jesus, the disciples asked him, `Teacher, will you please eat.'
31 Jesus said to them, `I have food that you do not know about.'
32 So the disciples asked one another, `Has anyone brought him food to eat?'
33 Jesus said to them, `My food is to obey the one who sent me and to finish his work.
34 Do you not say, "In four months it will be harvest time"? Listen, I say. Look up and see the fields. The harvest is ready to cut now.
35 The one who gathers the harvest receives a reward for it. He gathers a harvest that will live for ever. Then the one who sows and the one who gathers will both be happy.
36 This saying is true here: "One sows and another gathers."
37 I sent you to gather what you did not help to plant. Other people have worked hard and you have been helped through their work.'
38 Many of the people of the town believed in Jesus because of what the woman told them. She said, `He told me everything I have done.'
39 When the people from Samaria came, they begged him to stay with them. So he stayed with them for two days.
40 Many more people believed in Jesus because of his own word.
41 They said to the woman, `Now we believe, not because of what you told us, but because of what he himself has told us. We know it is true. This is the Saviour of the world.'
42 Two days after this, Jesus left Samaria and went to Galilee.
43 Jesus himself said, `No prophet is honoured by the people in his own country.'
44 When he came to Galilee, the people of that country were glad to see him. They had seen all the things he did when he was at the feast in Jerusalem. They had been at the feast also.
45 So Jesus came back to the town of Cana in Galilee. That was the place where he had changed water into wine. One of the king's officers was there. His son was sick in the town of Capernaum.
46 He heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, and he went to Jesus and said, `I beg you, come and heal my son. He is dying.'
47 Jesus said to him, `If you do not see some signs and big works, then you will not believe.'
48 The officer said, `Sir, I beg you. Come right away before my son dies.'
49 Jesus said, `Go home. Your son will not die.' The man believed what Jesus said and went home.
50 On the way, his servants met him. They said, `Your son is living.'
51 He asked, `What time did he begin to get well?' They said, `Yesterday at one hour after midday the fever left him.'
52 The father knew that was the time when Jesus said to him `Your son will not die.' So he and all his family believed in Jesus.
53 This was the second big work that Jesus did after he came back from Judea to Galilee.
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
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
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