‏ John 4

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

1 When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware that [He] was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although [it was] not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples) , 3 He left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4 Now He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from [His] journey, sat down by the well. It was about [the] sixth hour. 7 [When] a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 ( - His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How {can} You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you [for] a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get [this] living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us [this] well and drank from it himself, [as did] his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty [and] have to keep coming here to draw [water] .” 16 [Jesus] told her, “Go, call your husband and come [back] .” 17 “I have no husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said to her, “You are correct {to say} that you have no husband. 18 In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [ Jews ] say that the place where [one] must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming and {has} now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. 24 God [is] Spirit, and [His] worshipers must worship Him in spirit and [in] truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” ( - called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” 26 Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am [He] .”

The Disciples Return and Marvel

27 Just then, His disciples returned and were astonished that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked [Him] , “What do You want [from her] ?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 [So] they left the town and made their way toward [Jesus] . 31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat [something] .” 32 But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing [about] .” 33 So the disciples asked one another, “ [Could] someone have brought Him food?” 34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. 35 {Do} you not say, ‘There are still four months [until] the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest. 36 {Already} the reaper draws [his] wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and {now} you have taken up their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in [Jesus] because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. 41 And many more believed because of His message. 42 They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this [man] truly is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals the Official's Son

43 After two days, [Jesus] left for Galilee. 44 Now [He] Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in [his] own country. 45 Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone [there] as well. 46 So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water {into} wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 [When] he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” 49 “Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and departed. 51 And while he {was} still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. 52 So he inquired as to the hour when [his son] had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday [at the] seventh hour.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the very hour in which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and all his household believed. 54 This [was] now [the] second sign [that] Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.