John 4
1 [At that time, many people were asking] Jesus to baptize them. He did not baptize people; it was [we] his disciples who were doing the baptizing. But when some of the Pharisee [religious group] heard [people say that] Jesus was making more disciples than John [the Baptizer] and was baptizing them, [they became very jealous].
When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and immersing more disciples than John
(although Jesus himself did not immerse, but his disciples),
3 When the Lord [Jesus] heard about that, [so that the Pharisees would not cause trouble for him], he left Judea [district], and went again [with us disciples] to Galilee district.
he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4 [He] knew that God wanted him to travel through Samaria [district].
And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria.
5 So we arrived at a town named Sychar in Samaria [district]. That was near the plot of ground that [our ancestor] Jacob had given to his son Joseph [long ago].
So he comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the place that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 The well that [used to] belong to Jacob was on that plot of ground. Jesus was tired from walking. So while [we] disciples went into the town to buy some food, he sat down alongside the well. It was about noontime. A woman who [lived there] in Samaria came to get some water [from the well]. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me [from the well] some water [to drink]?” The [woman knew that] Jews did not like ([to touch things that belong to] Samaritans/[to] come near Samaritans), (OR, Jews did not like to associate with Samaritans, )
And Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied from the journey, thus was sitting on the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus says to her, Give me to drink.
For his disciples had gone away into the city so that they might buy food.
9 so the woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am from Samaria. Furthermore, I am a woman. So ([I am surprised] that you are asking me for a drink [of water]!/how is it that you are asking me for a drink [of water]?) [RHQ]”
The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, How do thou, being Jewish, ask to drink from me, being a Samaritan woman, for Jews do not associate with Samaritans?
10 Jesus replied to her, “If you [(sg)] knew what God [wanted to] give you, and if you knew who I am, the one who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked me, and I would have given you water that gives life.”
Jesus answered and said to her, If thou had known the gift of God, and who it is who says to thee, Give me to drink, thou would have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 She [thought he was talking about] ordinary [water. So she] said to him, “Sir, you do not have a bucket [or a rope with which to get water from the well], and the well is deep. So [since you cannot get water from this well], where can you get that life-giving water?
The woman says to him, Sir, thou have not even a container, and the well is deep. From where then have thou the living water?
12 Our ancestor Jacob left us this well. He drank water from it, and there was [enough good water] so that his sons and his flocks [of sheep] and goats drank from it also. [Do you claim that] you are greater than Jacob, [and because of that you can give us life-giving water]?”
Are thou greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his livestock?
13 Jesus replied to her, “Everyone who drinks water from this [well] will later become thirsty again.
Jesus answered and said to her, Every man who drinks of this water will thirst again,
15 The woman [did not understand that Jesus was speaking figuratively about something that would sustain her spiritually. So she] said to him, “Sir, give me that kind of water so that I will not get thirsty again, and so that I will not have to keep returning here to get water!”
The woman says to him, Give me this water, sir, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw out.
16 [Jesus knew that she did not understand, but he wanted to show her by his God-given knowledge of her personal life that because he was the Messiah he could supply her spiritual need. So] he said to her, “Woman, go and call your husband, and bring him here!”
Jesus says to her, Go, call thy husband, and come here.
17 She replied, “I do not have a husband!” Jesus said to her, “You said that you do not have a husband, and that is true.
The woman answered and said to him, I have no husband. Jesus says to her, Thou said correctly, I have no husband.
18 It is also true that you have had five husbands [one by one]. And the man you are living with now is not your husband! What you have said is very true.”
For thou have had five husbands, and he whom thou now have is not thy husband. This thou have said true.
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive you must be a prophet [because you are] able [to know people’s secrets].
The woman says to him, Sir, I perceive that thou are a prophet.
20 But [let me ask you a different question]: Our ancestors worshipped God here on [Gerizim Mountain], but you [Jews] say that Jerusalem is the place where we must worship [God. So who is right]?”
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me [when I say that] there will be a time when it will not [matter whether] you worship [God our] Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem [or somewhere else].
Jesus says to her, Woman, believe me, that the hour is coming when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will ye worship the Father.
22 You [people from Samaria] do not know the one you are worshipping. But we [(exc) Jews] know whom we worship, because it is from [us] Jews that [God has sent the one who] will save people [from the guilt of their sins].
Ye worship what ye do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.
23 However, there will be a time when those who genuinely worship God will worship him as [God’s] Spirit [directs] and according to [God’s] truth. In fact, that time is now. Those are the kind of worshipers my Father seeks.
But an hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for also the Father seeks such kind who worship him.
24 God is a spiritual being. So it is necessary that those who worship him must worship him as his Spirit [directs] and [according to God’s] truth.”
God is Spirit, and 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 [we need to know].” (‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ [both mean ‘God’s promised king]’.)
The woman says to him, I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When that man comes he will declare all things to us.
26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am [the Messiah]!”
Jesus says to her, I who speak to thee am the man.
27 Just then [we] disciples returned [from town]. [Since it was contrary to our custom for Jewish religious teachers to converse with a woman they did not know], we were surprised that he was talking to a woman. However, none of us asked her, “What do you want?” and none of us asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”
And upon this his disciples came. And they marveled that he spoke with the woman, yet no man said, What seek thou? or, Why do thou speak with her?
28 The woman left her water jar there and went into the town. She said to the people there,
The woman therefore left her water pot, and departed into the city, and says to the men,
29 “Come and see a man who [was able to] tell me all about my past life [HYP], [even though I never met him before] Could this man be the Messiah?”
Come, see a man who told me all, as many things as I did. Is not this the Christ?
30 So [many people] left the town and started going to where Jesus was.
They went out of the city, and came to him.
31 Meanwhile, we disciples were urging him, “Teacher, eat [some of the food we brought]!”
In the meanwhile the disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, eat.
32 But he said to us, “I have food to eat that you do not know anything about!”
But he said to them, I have food to eat that ye know not.
33 So we started saying to each other, “(Surely no one has brought him any food [when we] were not [here]!/Has anyone brought him any food [when we] were not [here]?) [RHQ]”
The disciples therefore said to each other, Did any man bring him to eat?
34 Jesus said to us, “Doing what [my Father] who sent me wants [me to do] and finishing the work he [gave me to do] is ([what sustains me/like] my food) [MET].
Jesus says to them, My food is that I do the will of him who sent me, and may finish his work.
35 [At this time of the year] you are saying (OR, your ancestors used to say), ‘There are four months left before we harvest [the crops].’ But I say to you, look carefully [at the non-Jewish people around here. God says, ‘They are ready to accept my message] [MET], [like crops in] fields that are ready for people to harvest.
Do ye not say, There are still four months and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and see the fields, that they are already white for harvest.
36 [If you help them to accept my message], I will reward you [MET], [as an owner of a field] pays those who harvest the crops. Because of your work, people will gain eternal life.’ [I have been telling people God’s message. That is like] [MET] a man who plants seeds. [You will help people to accept my message. That will be like] [MET] harvesting crops. [When that happens], both you and I will rejoice. (aiōnios g166)
And he who reaps receives a wage and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. (aiōnios g166)
37 As a result, this saying will become true: One person plants [seeds], but others harvest [the crops].
For in this the saying is true, One is who sows, and another who reaps.
38 I am sending you [to enable people to accept my message, but you will not be the first ones who tell them God’s message]. Others [previously] worked hard [to tell people God’s message], and now you will be harvesting the results of their work.”
I sent you to reap what ye have not labored. Others have labored, and ye have entered into their labor.
39 Many of the Samaria [district] people who [lived] in that town believed that Jesus [was the Messiah] because they heard what that woman said [about Jesus], “That man [was able to] tell me all about my past life [HYP]!”
And many of the Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all, as many things as I did.
40 So when those people of Samaria came to Jesus, they urged him to stay with them. So we stayed there two days.
So when the Samaritans came to him they asked him to remain with them, and he remained there two days.
41 Many more of those people believed ([in Jesus/that he was the Messiah]) because of what he said.
And many more believed because of his word.
42 They told the woman, “We believe in Jesus [now], but not [just] because of what you told us. Now we have heard him ourselves. And now we know that this man truly is the one who [can] save [people] [MTY] [from the guilt of their sins].”
And they said to the woman, We no longer believe because of thy speaking, for we have heard ourselves, and know that this really is the Savior of the world, the Christ.
43 Jesus had said [previously] that people did not honor prophets [like himself when they tried to teach people] in their own home area. So, two days later, Jesus and [we] disciples left that area and went to [his own area in] Galilee [district, because he knew that people there would not think very highly of him, and as a result the Jewish leaders would not be jealous].
And after the two days he departed from there and went into Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own fatherland.
45 However, when we arrived in Galilee [district, many] of the people there welcomed him, because they had been in Jerusalem during the [Passover] celebration and had seen all the things he did there.
So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
46 Jesus went again to Cana in Galilee [district]. That was where he [previously] turned water into wine. There was one of the king’s officials who lived in Capernaum, whose son was very sick.
Jesus therefore came again to Cana of Galilee where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When that man heard [others say] that Jesus had returned to Galilee [district] from Judea [district], he went to Jesus [in Cana] and pleaded with him, “Please come down [to Capernaum] and heal my son, who is about to die!”
This man having heard that Jesus comes out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was going to die.
48 Jesus said to him, “You people will believe my message only if you see me perform [more] miracles!”
Jesus therefore said to him, Unless ye may see signs and wonders, ye will, no, not believe.
49 But the official said to him, “Sir, ([I] believe [in you/I believe that you came from God]). [So please] come down [to my home] before my son dies!”
The nobleman says to him, Sir, come down before my child dies.
50 Jesus said to him, “Then you may go [home]. Your son (will live/not die)!” The man believed what Jesus said, and left.
Jesus says to him, Go, thy son lives. And the man believed the word that Jesus said to him, and he departed.
51 [The next day] while he was on the way home, his servants met him. They told him, “Your child is going to live!”
And as he was now going down, his bondmen met him and reported, saying, Thy boy lives.
52 He asked them, “At what time did my son start to become well?” They said to him, “His fever ceased yesterday [afternoon] at one o’clock.”
So he inquired of them the hour in which he fared well. And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
53 Then the boy’s father realized that this was the time Jesus told him, “Your son will (live/not die).” So he and all the people in his house believed [that Jesus was the Messiah].
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, Thy son lives. And he himself believed and his whole house.
54 That was the second miracle that Jesus performed in Galilee [district], after he had returned from Judea [district].
This again is a second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
