John 4
Departure From Judea
4:1 Now when Jesus1 knew that the Pharisees2 had heard that he3 was winning4 and baptizing more disciples than John 4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),5 4:3 he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee.6
Conversation With a Samaritan Woman
4:4 But he had7 to pass through Samaria.8 4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town9 called Sychar,10 near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.11 4:6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside12 the well. It was about noon.13
4:7 A Samaritan woman14 came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water15 to drink.” 4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.16)17 4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew18 – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water19 to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common20 with Samaritans.)21
4:10 Jesus answered22 her, “If you had known23 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water24 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”25 4:11 “Sir,”26 the woman27 said to him, “you have no bucket and the well28 is deep; where then do you get this29 living water?30 4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor31 Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”32
4:13 Jesus replied,33 “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty34 again. 4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again,35 but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain36 of water springing up37 to eternal life.” 4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw38 water.”39 4:16 He40 said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”41 4:17 The woman replied,42 “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said,43 ‘I have no husband,’44 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with45 now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see46 that you are a prophet. 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,47 and you people48 say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”49 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman,50 a time51 is coming when you will worship52 the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 4:22 You people53 worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.54 4:23 But a time55 is coming – and now is here56 – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks57 such people to be58 his worshipers.59 4:24 God is spirit,60 and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ);61 “whenever he62 comes, he will tell63 us everything.”64 4:26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
The Disciples Return
4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back.65 They were shocked66 because he was speaking67 with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?”68 or “Why are you speaking with her?” 4:28 Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,69 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah,70 can he?”71 4:30 So72 they left the town and began coming73 to him.
Workers for the Harvest
4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him,74 “Rabbi, eat something.”75 4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 4:33 So the disciples began to say76 to one another, “No one brought him anything77 to eat, did they?”78 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me79 and to complete80 his work.81 4:35 Don’t you say,82 ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up83 and see that the fields are already white84 for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay85 and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true,86 ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
The Samaritans Respond
4:39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified,87 “He told me everything I ever did.” 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking88 him to stay with them.89 He stayed there two days, 4:41 and because of his word many more90 believed. 4:42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one91 really is the Savior of the world.”92
Onward to Galilee
4:43 After the two days he departed from there to Galilee. 4:44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)93 4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem94 at the feast95 (for they themselves had gone to the feast).96
Healing the Royal Official’s Son
4:46 Now he came again to Cana97 in Galilee where he had made the water wine.98 In99 Capernaum100 there was a certain royal official101 whose son was sick. 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him102 to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people103 see signs and wonders you will never believe!”104 4:49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” 4:50 Jesus told him, “Go home;105 your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.106
4:51 While he was on his way down,107 his slaves108 met him and told him that his son was going to live. 4:52 So he asked them the time109 when his condition began to improve,110 and111 they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon112 the fever left him.” 4:53 Then the father realized that it was the very time113 Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household. 4:54 Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign114 when he returned from Judea to Galilee.