< 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].
Therefore when Yeshua knew that the Pharisees had heard, "Yeshua is making and immersing more talmidim than John"
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(although Yeshua himself did not immerse, but his talmidim),
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 again into Galil.
4 [He] knew that God wanted him to travel through Samaria [district].
He needed 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 came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground 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, )
Jacob's well was there. Yeshua therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
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A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Yeshua said to her, "Give me a drink."
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For his talmidim had gone away into the city to 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 said to him, "How can you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings 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.”
Yeshua answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you 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 said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where do you get that 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 you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"
13 Jesus replied to her, “Everyone who drinks water from this [well] will later become thirsty again.
Yeshua answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 But those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. On the contrary, the water that I give them will become in their inner beings like a spring of water that will enable them to have eternal life.” (aiōn g165, aiōnios g166)
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life." (aiōn g165, aiōnios g166)
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 said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I do not get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."
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!”
He said to her, "Go, call your 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." Yeshua said to her, "You said well, '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 you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."
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 said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you 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 in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought 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].
Yeshua said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you 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].
You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know; for 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 the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.
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 said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Anointed One). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things."
26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am [the Messiah]!”
Yeshua said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."
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?”
At this, his talmidim came. They were surprised that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?"
28 The woman left her water jar there and went into the town. She said to the people there,
So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
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 everything that I did. Can this be the Messiah?"
30 So [many people] left the town and started going to where Jesus was.
They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile, we disciples were urging him, “Teacher, eat [some of the food we brought]!”
In the meanwhile, the talmidim urged 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 you do not know about."
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 talmidim therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something 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].
Yeshua said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish 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 you not say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
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)
He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to everlasting life; 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 sows, and another 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 that for which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you 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]!”
From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that 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 stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41 Many more of those people believed ([in Jesus/that he was the Messiah]) because of what he said.
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].”
They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
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].
After the two days he departed from there to Galil.
For Yeshua himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
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 Galil, 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.
Yeshua came therefore again to Cana of Galil, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Kfar-Nahum.
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!”
When he heard that Yeshua had come out of Judea into Galil, he went to him, and pleaded with him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was close to death.
48 Jesus said to him, “You people will believe my message only if you see me perform [more] miracles!”
Yeshua therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way 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 said 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.
Yeshua said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Yeshua spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 [The next day] while he was on the way home, his servants met him. They told him, “Your child is going to live!”
As he was now going down, his servants met him, saying that his son was alive.
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 when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon, 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 Yeshua said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.
54 That was the second miracle that Jesus performed in Galilee [district], after he had returned from Judea [district].
This is again the second sign that Yeshua did, having come out of Judea into Galil.

< John 4 >