John 4
4
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
1Jesus#4:1 Some manuscripts read The Lord. 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). 3So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.#4:9 Some manuscripts do not include this sentence. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10Jesus 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? 12And 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?”
13Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14But 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— 18for 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. 20So 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,#4:20 Greek on this mountain. where our ancestors worshiped?”
21Jesus 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. 22You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23But 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. 24For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”#4:26 Or “The ‘I Am’ is here”; or “I am the Lord”; Greek reads “I am, the one speaking to you.” See Exod 3:14.
27Just 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?” 28The 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?” 30So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32But 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.
34Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe#4:35 Greek white. for harvest. 36The 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! 37You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38I 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
39Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42Then 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
43At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. 44He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. 45Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.
46As 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. 47When 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.
48Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”
49The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”
50Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.
51While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 52He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 53Then 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. 54This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.
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John 4: NLT
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John 4
4
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
1Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and #ch. 3:22, 26baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3he left Judea and departed #ch. 2:11, 12again for Galilee. 4#[Luke 13:33]And he had to pass through Samaria. 5So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field #ver. 12; Gen. 33:19; 48:22; Josh. 24:32that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, #ch. 19:28; [Matt. 4:2; 8:24; 21:18]wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.#4:6 That is, about noon
7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, #[See ver. 6 above]“Give me a drink.” 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (#Luke 9:53; [ch. 8:48; Ezra 4:3, 10]; See Matt. 10:5For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you #ch. 7:38; Jer. 2:13; 17:13living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12#[ch. 8:53] Are you greater than our father Jacob? #ver. 5He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but #[ch. 6:35, 51, 58; 7:37] whoever drinks of the water that I will give him #[Isa. 49:10; Rev. 7:16] will never be thirsty again.#4:14 Greek forever The water that I will give him will become #ch. 7:38in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, #[ch. 6:34]give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, #ch. 16:8call your husband, and come here.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that #ch. 9:17; [ch. 6:14] you are #Luke 7:16, 39; See Matt. 21:11a prophet. 20#Gen. 12:6, 7; 33:18, 20; Deut. 11:29; 27:12; Josh. 8:33 Our fathers worshiped on #Judg. 9:7 this mountain, but you say that #See Deut. 12:5 in Jerusalem is #[ch. 11:48]the place where people ought to worship.” 21Jesus said to her, #ch. 2:4 “Woman, believe me, #ver. 23; ch. 5:25, 28; 16:2, 25, 32 the hour is coming when #Zeph. 2:11; Mal. 1:11; 1 Tim. 2:8neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22#[2 Kgs. 17:28-34; Acts 17:23] You worship what you do not know; #Ps. 147:19, 20; Isa. 2:3; Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5 we worship what we know, for #Ps. 147:19, 20; Isa. 2:3; Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5 salvation is #Matt. 2:4, 5; Acts 13:23; Rom. 11:26from the Jews. 23But #ver. 21 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father #[Rom. 8:15; Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Phil. 3:3] in spirit and #Ps. 145:18; [ch. 1:17] truth, for the Father #[ch. 6:44]is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that #See ch. 1:41 Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, #Deut. 18:18; [ver. 29]he will tell us all things.” 26Jesus said to her, #ch. 9:35-37“I who speak to you am he.”
27Just then #ver. 8his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man #ver. 17, 18; [ver. 25]who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, #See ch. 1:38“Rabbi, eat.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, #[ver. 11, 15; ch. 3:4; 6:34, 52]“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, #[Job 23:12] “My food is #ch. 5:30; 6:38; 14:31 to do the will of him who sent me and #ch. 5:36; 17:4to accomplish his work. 35Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that #Matt. 9:37; Luke 10:2; [ver. 25, 30]the fields are white for harvest. 36Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that #[Matt. 13:37; Mark 4:14] sower and #ver. 38 reaper #Isa. 9:3; [Amos 9:13]may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, #[Job 31:8]‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap #Josh. 24:13 that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, #[Acts 8:5-17, 25]and you have entered into their labor.”
39Many Samaritans #ver. 5, 8 from that town believed in him #[ch. 17:20] because of #ver. 29the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed #ch. 8:30because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, #[1 John 5:20] and we know that this is indeed #1 John 4:14; [ch. 3:17; 12:47; 1 Tim. 4:10] the Savior #See ch. 1:29of the world.”
43After #ver. 40the two days he departed for Galilee. 44(For Jesus himself had testified #See Matt. 13:57that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, #ch. 2:23; 3:2 having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For #ver. 20they too had gone to the feast.
Jesus Heals an Official’s Son
46So he came again to #ch. 2:1 Cana in Galilee, #ch. 2:9where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47When this man heard that Jesus #ver. 3, 54had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48So Jesus said to him, #ch. 2:18; 6:30; [ch. 20:29]“Unless you#4:48 The Greek for you is plural; twice in this verse see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49The official said to him, “Sir, come down #[ch. 11:21, 32; Mark 5:35; Luke 8:49]before my child dies.” 50Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51As he was going down, his servants#4:51 Or bondservants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour#4:52 That is, at 1 p.m. the fever left him.” 53The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, #Acts 16:34; 18:8; See Acts 11:14and all his household. 54#[ch. 2:11 with ver. 45, 46]This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
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