John 4
4
1Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more followers than John was. 2But Jesus' disciples were really the ones doing the baptizing, and not Jesus himself.
Jesus and the Samaritan woman
3Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. 4This time he had to go through Samaria, 5and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph.#Gn 33.19; Js 24.32. 6-8The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from travelling. It was midday, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.
Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”
9“You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won't have anything to do with each other?”#4.9 won't have anything to do with each other: Or “won't use the same cups”. The Samaritans lived in the land between Judea and Galilee. They worshipped God differently from the Jews and did not get along with them.#Ezra 4.1-5; Ne 4.1,2.
10Jesus answered, “You don't know what God wants to give you, and you don't know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”
11“Sir,” the woman said, “you don't even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? 12Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”
15The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won't get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”
16Jesus told her, “Go and bring your husband.”
17-18The woman answered, “I don't have a husband.”
“That's right,” Jesus replied, “you're telling the truth. You don't have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn't your husband.”
19The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20My ancestors worshipped on this mountain,#4.20 this mountain: Mount Gerizim, near the city of Shechem. but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship.”
21Jesus said to her:
Believe me, the time is coming when you won't worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans don't really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world. 23But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshippers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. 24God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.
25The woman said, “I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26“I am that one,” Jesus told her, “and I am speaking to you now.”
27The disciples returned about this time and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her.
28The woman left her water jar and ran back into town. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?” 30Everyone in town went out to see Jesus.
31While this was happening, Jesus' disciples were saying to him, “Teacher, please eat something.”
32But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don't know anything about.”
33His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”
34Jesus said:
My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. 35You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.
36Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. 37So the saying proves true, “Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.” 38I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.
39A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, “This man told me everything I have ever done.” 40They came and asked him to stay in their town, and he stayed on for two days.
41Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. 42They told the woman, “We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Saviour of the world!”
Jesus heals an official's son
(Matthew 8.5-13; Luke 7.1-10)
43-44Jesus had said, “Prophets are honoured everywhere, except in their own country.” Then two days later he left#Mt 13.57; Mk 6.4; Lk 4.24. 45and went to Galilee. The people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything he had done.#Jn 2.23.
46While Jesus was in Galilee, he returned to the village of Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was an official in Capernaum whose son was sick.#Jn 2.1-11. 47And when the man heard that Jesus had come from Judea, he went and begged him to keep his son from dying.
48Jesus told the official, “You won't have faith unless you see miracles and wonders!”
49The man replied, “Lord, please come before my son dies!”
50Jesus then said, “Your son will live. Go on home to him.” The man believed Jesus and set off to return home.
51Some of the official's servants met him along the road and told him, “Your son is better!” 52He asked them when the boy got better, and they answered, “The fever left him yesterday at one o'clock.”
53The boy's father realized that at one o'clock the day before, Jesus had told him, “Your son will live!” So the man and everyone in his family put their faith in Jesus.
54This was the second miracle#4.54 miracle: See the note at 2.11. that Jesus performed after he left Judea and went to Galilee.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
John 4
4
1When Jesus realized that the Pharisees had discovered that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2(although it wasn't Jesus who was baptizing, but his disciples), 3he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4On the way he had to pass through Samaria. 5So he came to the Samaritan city of Sychar, near to the field that Jacob had given his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, who was tired from the journey, sat straight down beside the well. It was around noon.
7A Samaritan woman came to fetch water. Jesus said to her, “Please could you give me a drink?” 8for his disciples had gone to the town to buy food.
9“You're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” the woman replied, for Jews don't associate with Samaritans.#4:9. Or “Jews do not share dishes with Samaritans.”
10Jesus answered her, “If you only recognized God's gift, and who is asking you, ‘Please could you give me a drink?’ you would have asked him and he would have given you the water of life.”
11“Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get the water of life from?” she replied. 12“Our father Jacob gave us the well. He drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock. Are you greater than he?”
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks water from this well will become thirsty again. 14But those who drink the water I give won't ever be thirsty again. The water I give becomes a bubbling spring of water inside them, bringing them eternal life.”
15“Sir,” replied the woman, “Please give me this water so I won't be thirsty, and I won't have to come here to fetch water!”
16“Go and call your husband, and come back here,” Jesus told her.
17“I don't have a husband,” the woman answered.
“You're right in saying you don't have a husband,” Jesus told her. 18“You've had five husbands, and the one you're living with now is not your husband. So what you say is true!”
19“I can see you're a prophet, sir,” the woman replied. 20“Tell me this: our ancestors worshiped here on this mountain, but you#4:20. As a Jew. say that Jerusalem is where we must worship.”
21Jesus replied,#4:21. Jesus addresses her as “woman” which is the normal term used, but sounds impolite in English. “Believe me the time is coming when you won't worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22You really don't know the God#4:22. Literally, “what.” you're worshiping, while we worship the God we know, for salvation comes from the Jews. 23But the time is coming—and in fact it's here already—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for these are the kind of worshipers the Father wants. 24God is Spirit, so worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25The woman said, “Well, I know that the Messiah is coming,” (the one who is called Christ). “When he comes he will explain it all to us.”
26Jesus replied, “I AM—the one who is speaking to you.”#4:26. “I AM” is used in the Old Testament as a name for God. Jesus is telling her he is the Messiah and also identifying his divinity.
27Just then the disciples returned. They were shocked that he was talking to a woman, but none of them asked “What are you doing?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28The woman left her water jar behind and ran back to the town, telling the people, 29“Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?”
30So they went out of the town to go and see him. 31Meanwhile Jesus' disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, please eat something!”
32But Jesus replied, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33“Did someone bring him food?” the disciples asked one another.
34Jesus told them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work. 35Don't you have a saying, ‘four more months until harvest?’#4:35. It was usually four months between sowing and reaping. Open your eyes and look around! The crops in the fields are ripe, ready for harvest. 36The reaper is being paid and harvesting a crop for eternal life so that both the sower and the reaper can celebrate. 37So the proverb ‘one sows, another reaps,’ is true. 38I sent you to reap what you didn't work for. Others did the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of what they did.”
39Many Samaritans from that town trusted in him because of what the woman said: “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when they came to see him they pleaded with him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, 41and because of what he told them many more trusted in him. 42They said to the woman, “Now our trust in him isn't just because of what you told us but because we have heard him for ourselves. We're convinced that he really is the Savior of the world.”
43After the two days he continued on to Galilee. 44Jesus himself had made the comment that a prophet is not respected in his own country. 45But when he arrived in Galilee, the people welcomed him, because they had also been at the Passover feast and had seen everything he'd done in Jerusalem. 46He visited Cana in Galilee again, where he had turned water into wine. Nearby in the town of Capernaum lived a royal official whose son was very sick. 47When he heard that Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and begged him to come and heal his son who was close to death.
48“Unless you see signs and wonders you people really won't trust me,” said Jesus.
49“Lord, just come before my child dies,” the official pleaded.
50“Go on home,” Jesus told him. “Your son will live!”
The man trusted what Jesus told him and left for home. 51While he was on his way, his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and recovering. 52He asked them what time it was when his son began to get better. “Yesterday at one p.m. the fever left him,” they told him. 53Then the father realized this was the precise time when Jesus had told him, “Your son will live!” So he and everyone in his household trusted in Jesus. 54This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com