John 4:20-30

4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, ¹  and you people ²  say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ³  4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, ⁴  a time ⁵  is coming when you will worship ⁶  the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 4:22 You people ⁷  worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. ⁸  4:23 But a time ⁹  is coming – and now is here ¹⁰  – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks ¹¹  such people to be ¹²  his worshipers. ¹³  4:24 God is spirit, ¹⁴  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); ¹⁵  “whenever he ¹⁶  comes, he will tell ¹⁷  us everything.” ¹⁸  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. ¹⁹  They were shocked ²⁰  because he was speaking ²¹  with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” ²²  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, ²³  4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, ²⁴  can he?” ²⁵  4:30 So ²⁶  they left the town and began coming ²⁷  to him.

[4:20]  ¹ sn This mountain refers to Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritan shrine was located.

[4:20]  ² tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “say” is second person plural and thus refers to more than Jesus alone.

[4:20]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:21]  ⁴ sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή 1), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.

[4:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “an hour.”

[4:21]  ⁶ tn The verb is plural.

[4:22]  ⁷ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “worship” is second person plural and thus refers to more than the woman alone.

[4:22]  ⁸ tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “an hour.”

[4:23]  ¹¹ tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.

[4:23]  ¹² sn See also John 4:27.

[4:23]  ¹³ tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”

[4:23]  ¹⁴ tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunounta") as the complement.

[4:24]  ¹³ tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (qeos) is the subject.

[4:25]  ¹⁶ tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”

[4:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “that one.”

[4:25]  ¹⁸ tn Or “he will announce to us.”

[4:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “all things.”

[4:27]  ¹⁹ tn Or “his disciples returned”; Grk “came” (“back” is supplied in keeping with English usage). Because of the length of the Greek sentence it is better to divide here and begin a new English sentence, leaving the καί (kai) before ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon) untranslated.

[4:27]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 444 s.v. θαυμάζω 1.a.γ has “be surprised that” followed by indirect discourse. The context calls for a slightly stronger wording.

[4:27]  ²¹ tn The ὅτι (Joti) could also be translated as declarative (“that he had been speaking with a woman”) but since this would probably require translating the imperfect verb as a past perfect (which is normal after a declarative ὅτι), it is preferable to take this ὅτι as causal.

[4:27]  ²² tn Grk “seek.” See John 4:23.

[4:28]  ²² tn The term ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) used here can mean either “people” (when used generically) or “men” (though there is a more specific term in Greek for adult males, ανήρ [anhr]). Thus the woman could have been speaking either (1) to all the people or (2) to the male leaders of the city as their representatives. However, most recent English translations regard the former as more likely and render the word “people” here.

[4:29]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the Christ” (both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). Although the Greek text reads χριστός (cristos) here, it is more consistent based on 4:25 (where Μεσσίας [Messias] is the lead term and is qualified by χριστός) to translate χριστός as “Messiah” here.

[4:29]  ²⁶ tn The use of μήτι (mhti) normally presupposes a negative answer. This should not be taken as an indication that the woman did not believe, however. It may well be an example of “reverse psychology,” designed to gain a hearing for her testimony among those whose doubts about her background would obviate her claims.

[4:30]  ²⁸ tn “So” is supplied for transitional smoothness in English.

[4:30]  ²⁹ sn The imperfect tense is here rendered began coming for the author is not finished with this part of the story yet; these same Samaritans will appear again in v. 35.