John 4
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
4 When Jesus[a] knew that the Pharisees(A) heard He was making(B) and baptizing more disciples than John(C) 2 (though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, 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 six in the evening.[c]
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.(J)
“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 for 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—ever!(Q) In fact, the water I will give him will become a well[f](R) of water springing up within him for eternal life.”(S)
15 “Sir,” the woman said to Him, “give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”
16 “Go 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 fathers worshiped on this mountain,[g](T) yet 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[h] 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 worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit,(X) and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”(Y)
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah[i](Z) is coming” (who is called Christ(AA)). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26 “I am He,”(AB) Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”
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 men, 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, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open[j] your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready[k] for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,(AI) so 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 labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from[l] their labor.”
The Savior of the World
39 Now many Samaritans(AK) from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said[m] when she testified,(AL) “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him,(AM) they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what He said.[n] 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior(AN) of the world.”[o]
A Galilean Welcome
43 After two days He left there for Galilee.(AO) 44 Jesus Himself testified(AP) that a prophet has no honor 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 Then 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, for 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[p] Jesus said to him and departed.
51 While he was still going down, his slaves met him saying that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at seven in the morning[q] the fever left him,” they answered. 53 The father(BB) realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” Then he himself believed, along with his whole household.
54 This, therefore, was the second sign(BC) Jesus performed after He came from Judea to Galilee.(BD)
Footnotes
- John 4:1 Other mss read the Lord
- John 4:5 Lit piece of land
- John 4:6 Lit the sixth hour; see note at Jn 1:39; an alt. time reckoning would be noon
- John 4:9 Or do not share vessels with
- John 4:9 Other mss omit For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
- John 4:14 Or spring
- John 4:20 Mount Gerizim, where there had been a Samaritan temple that rivaled Jerusalem’s
- John 4:22 Samaritans is implied since the Gk verb and pronoun are pl.
- John 4:25 In the NT, the word Messiah translates the Gk word Christos (“Anointed One”), except here and in Jn 1:41 where it translates Messias.
- John 4:35 Lit Raise
- John 4:35 Lit white
- John 4:38 Lit you have entered into
- John 4:39 Lit because of the woman’s word
- John 4:41 Lit because of His word
- John 4:42 Other mss add the Messiah
- John 4:50 Lit the word
- John 4:52 Or seven in the evening; lit at the seventh hour; see note at Jn 1:39; an alt time reckoning would be at one in the afternoon
John 4
Names of God Bible
A Samaritan Woman Meets Jesus at a Well
4 Yeshua knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. 2 (Actually, Yeshua was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) 3 So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4 Yeshua had to go through Samaria. 5 He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Well was there. Yeshua sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o’clock in the evening.
7 A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)
9 The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)
10 Yeshua replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? 12 You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.”
13 Yeshua answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”
15 The woman told Yeshua, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.”
16 Yeshua told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
Yeshua told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. 18 You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.”
19 The woman said to Yeshua, “I see that you’re a prophet! 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Yeshua told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. 24 God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything.” (Messiah is the one called Christ.)
26 Yeshua told her, “I am he, and I am speaking to you now.”
27 At that time his disciples returned. They were surprised that he was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you talking to her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back into the city. She told the people, 29 “Come with me, and meet a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” 30 The people left the city and went to meet Yeshua.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, have something to eat.”
32 Yeshua told them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him something to eat?”
34 Yeshua told them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do and to finish the work he has given me.
35 “Don’t you say, ‘In four more months the harvest will be here’? I’m telling you to look and see that the fields are ready to be harvested. 36 The person who harvests the crop is already getting paid. He is gathering grain for eternal life. So the person who plants the grain and the person who harvests it are happy together. 37 In this respect the saying is true: ‘One person plants, and another person harvests.’ 38 I have sent you to harvest a crop you have not worked for. Other people have done the hard work, and you have followed them in their work.”
39 Many Samaritans in that city believed in Yeshua because of the woman who said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans went to Yeshua, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed in Samaria for two days. 41 Many more Samaritans believed because of what Yeshua said. 42 They told the woman, “Our faith is no longer based on what you’ve said. We have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the savior of the world.”
A Believing Official(A)
43 After spending two days in Samaria, Yeshua left for Galilee. 44 Yeshua had said that a prophet is not honored in his own country. 45 But when Yeshua arrived in Galilee, the people of Galilee welcomed him. They had seen everything he had done at the festival in Jerusalem, since they, too, had attended the festival.
46 Yeshua returned to the city of Cana in Galilee, where he had changed water into wine. A government official was in Cana. His son was sick in Capernaum. 47 The official heard that Yeshua had returned from Judea to Galilee. So he went to Yeshua and asked him to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son who was about to die.
48 Yeshua told the official, “If people don’t see miracles and amazing things, they won’t believe.”
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come with me before my little boy dies.”
50 Yeshua told him, “Go home. Your son will live.” The man believed what Yeshua told him and left.
51 While the official was on his way to Capernaum, his servants met him and told him that his boy was alive. 52 The official asked them at what time his son got better. His servants told him, “The fever left him yesterday evening at seven o’clock.” 53 Then the boy’s father realized that it was the same time that Yeshua had told him, “Your son will live.” So the official and his entire family became believers.
54 This was the second miracle that Yeshua performed after he had come back from Judea to Galilee.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.