Discovery BoxJohn 4:3-54
Context4:3 he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee. 1
4:4 But he had 2 to pass through Samaria. 3 4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town 4 called Sychar, 5 near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 4:6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside 7 the well. It was about noon. 8
4:7 A Samaritan woman 9 came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water 10 to drink.” 4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. 11 ) 12 4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew 13 – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water 14 to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common 15 with Samaritans.) 16
4:10 Jesus answered 17 her, “If you had known 18 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 19 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 20 4:11 “Sir,” 21 the woman 22 said to him, “you have no bucket and the well 23 is deep; where then do you get this 24 living water? 25 4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor 26 Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” 27
4:13 Jesus replied, 28 “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty 29 again. 4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, 30 but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain 31 of water springing up 32 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 draw 33 water.” 34 4:16 He 35 said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” 36 4:17 The woman replied, 37 “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, 38 ‘I have no husband,’ 39 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with 40 now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see 41 that you are a prophet. 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, 42 and you people 43 say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 44 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, 45 a time 46 is coming when you will worship 47 the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 4:22 You people 48 worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. 49 4:23 But a time 50 is coming – and now is here 51 – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks 52 such people to be 53 his worshipers. 54 4:24 God is spirit, 55 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); 56 “whenever he 57 comes, he will tell 58 us everything.” 59 4:26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. 60 They were shocked 61 because he was speaking 62 with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” 63 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, 64 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, 65 can he?” 66 4:30 So 67 they left the town and began coming 68 to him.
4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 69 “Rabbi, eat something.” 70 4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 4:33 So the disciples began to say 71 to one another, “No one brought him anything 72 to eat, did they?” 73 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me 74 and to complete 75 his work. 76 4:35 Don’t you say, 77 ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up 78 and see that the fields are already white 79 for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay 80 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, 81 ‘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.”
4:39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, 82 “He told me everything I ever did.” 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking 83 him to stay with them. 84 He stayed there two days, 4:41 and because of his word many more 85 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 one 86 really is the Savior of the world.” 87
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.) 88 4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem 89 at the feast 90 (for they themselves had gone to the feast). 91
4:46 Now he came again to Cana 92 in Galilee where he had made the water wine. 93 In 94 Capernaum 95 there was a certain royal official 96 whose son was sick. 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him 97 to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people 98 see signs and wonders you will never believe!” 99 4:49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” 4:50 Jesus told him, “Go home; 100 your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home. 101
4:51 While he was on his way down, 102 his slaves 103 met him and told him that his son was going to live. 4:52 So he asked them the time 104 when his condition began to improve, 105 and 106 they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon 107 the fever left him.” 4:53 Then the father realized that it was the very time 108 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 sign 109 when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
[4:3] 1 sn The author doesn’t tell why Jesus chose to set out once more for Galilee. Some have suggested that the Pharisees turned their attention to Jesus because John the Baptist had now been thrown into prison. But the text gives no hint of this. In any case, perhaps Jesus simply did not want to provoke a confrontation at this time (knowing that his “hour” had not yet come).
[4:4] 2 sn Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan). Although some take the impersonal verb had to (δεῖ, dei) here to indicate logical necessity only, normally in John’s Gospel its use involves God’s will or plan (3:7, 3:14, 3:30, 4:4, 4:20, 4:24, 9:4, 10:16, 12:34, 20:9).
[4:4] 3 sn Samaria. The Samaritans were descendants of 2 groups: (1) The remnant of native Israelites who were not deported after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722
[4:5] 4 tn Grk “town of Samaria.” The noun Σαμαρείας (Samareias) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
[4:5] 5 sn Sychar was somewhere in the vicinity of Shechem, possibly the village of Askar, 1.5 km northeast of Jacob’s well.
[4:5] 6 sn Perhaps referred to in Gen 48:22.
[4:6] 7 tn Grk “on (ἐπί, epi) the well.” There may have been a low stone rim encircling the well, or the reading of Ì66 (“on the ground”) may be correct.
[4:6] 8 tn Grk “the sixth hour.”
[4:7] 9 tn Grk “a woman from Samaria.” According to BDAG 912 s.v. Σαμάρεια, the prepositional phrase is to be translated as a simple attributive: “γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας a Samaritan woman J 4:7.”
[4:7] 10 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
[4:8] 12 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).
[4:9] 13 tn Or “a Judean.” Here BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαίος 2.a states, “Judean (with respect to birth, nationality, or cult).” The same term occurs in the plural later in this verse. In one sense “Judean” would work very well in the translation here, since the contrast is between residents of the two geographical regions. However, since in the context of this chapter the discussion soon becomes a religious rather than a territorial one (cf. vv. 19-26), the translation “Jew” has been retained here and in v. 22.
[4:9] 14 tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
[4:9] 15 tn D. Daube (“Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: the Meaning of συγχράομαι [Jn 4:7ff],” JBL 69 [1950]: 137-47) suggests this meaning.
[4:9] 16 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[4:10] 17 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
[4:10] 18 tn Or “if you knew.”
[4:10] 19 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
[4:10] 20 tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.
[4:11] 21 tn Or “Lord.” The Greek term κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage there is probably a gradual transition from one to the other as the woman’s respect for Jesus grows throughout the conversation (4:11, 15, 19).
[4:11] 22 tc ‡ Two early and important Greek
[4:11] 23 tn The word for “well” has now shifted to φρέαρ (frear, “cistern”); earlier in the passage it was πηγή (phgh).
[4:11] 24 tn The anaphoric article has been translated “this.”
[4:11] 25 sn Where then do you get this living water? The woman’s reply is an example of the “misunderstood statement,” a technique appearing frequently in John’s Gospel. Jesus was speaking of living water which was spiritual (ultimately a Johannine figure for the Holy Spirit, see John 7:38-39), but the woman thought he was speaking of flowing (fresh drinkable) water. Her misunderstanding gave Jesus the opportunity to explain what he really meant.
[4:12] 26 tn Or “our forefather”; Grk “our father.”
[4:12] 27 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end. In this instance all of v. 12 is one question. It has been broken into two sentences for the sake of English style (instead of “for he” the Greek reads “who”).
[4:13] 28 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
[4:13] 29 tn Grk “will thirst.”
[4:14] 30 tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.
[4:14] 31 tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.
[4:14] 32 tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).
[4:15] 33 tn Grk “or come here to draw.”
[4:15] 34 tn The direct object of the infinitive ἀντλεῖν (antlein) is understood in Greek but supplied for clarity in the English translation.
[4:16] 35 tc Most witnesses have “Jesus” here, either with the article (אc C2 D L Ws Ψ 086 Ï lat) or without (א* A Θ Ë1,13 al), while several important and early witnesses lack the name (Ì66,75 B C* 33vid pc). It is unlikely that scribes would have deliberately expunged the name of Jesus from the text here, especially since it aids the reader with the flow of the dialogue. Further, that the name occurs both anarthrously and with the article suggests that it was a later addition. (For similar arguments, see the tc note on “woman” in 4:11).
[4:16] 36 tn Grk “come here” (“back” is implied).
[4:17] 37 tn Grk “answered and said to him.”
[4:17] 38 tn Grk “Well have you said.”
[4:17] 39 tn The word order in Jesus’ reply is reversed from the woman’s original statement. The word “husband” in Jesus’ reply is placed in an emphatic position.
[4:18] 40 tn Grk “the one you have.”
[4:19] 41 tn Grk “behold” or “perceive,” but these are not as common in contemporary English usage.
[4:20] 42 sn This mountain refers to Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritan shrine was located.
[4:20] 43 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] 44 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[4:21] 45 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] 47 tn The verb is plural.
[4:22] 48 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] 49 tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.
[4:23] 51 tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.
[4:23] 52 sn See also John 4:27.
[4:23] 53 tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”
[4:23] 54 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] 55 tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (qeos) is the subject.
[4:25] 56 tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”
[4:25] 58 tn Or “he will announce to us.”
[4:25] 59 tn Grk “all things.”
[4:27] 60 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] 61 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] 62 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] 63 tn Grk “seek.” See John 4:23.
[4:28] 64 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] 65 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] 66 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] 67 tn “So” is supplied for transitional smoothness in English.
[4:30] 68 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.
[4:31] 69 tn Grk “were asking him, saying.”
[4:31] 70 tn The direct object of φάγε (fage) in Greek is understood; “something” is supplied in English.
[4:33] 71 tn An ingressive imperfect conveys the idea that Jesus’ reply provoked the disciples’ response.
[4:33] 72 tn The direct object of ἤνεγκεν (hnenken) in Greek is understood; “anything” is supplied in English.
[4:33] 73 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “did they?”).
[4:34] 74 sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.
[4:34] 75 tn Or “to accomplish.”
[4:34] 76 tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.
[4:35] 77 tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.
[4:35] 78 tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.
[4:36] 80 tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.
[4:37] 81 tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.
[4:39] 82 tn Grk “when she testified.”
[4:40] 83 tn Following the arrival of the Samaritans, the imperfect verb has been translated as ingressive.
[4:40] 84 tn Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
[4:41] 85 tn Or “and they believed much more.”
[4:42] 86 tn Or “this.” The Greek pronoun can mean either “this one” or “this” (BDAG 740 s.v. οὗτος 1).
[4:42] 87 sn There is irony in the Samaritans’ declaration that Jesus was really the Savior of the world, an irony foreshadowed in the prologue to the Fourth Gospel (1:11): “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Yet the Samaritans welcomed Jesus and proclaimed him to be not the Jewish Messiah only, but the Savior of the world.
[4:44] 88 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[4:45] 89 sn All the things he had done in Jerusalem probably refers to the signs mentioned in John 2:23.
[4:45] 90 sn See John 2:23-25.
[4:45] 91 sn John 4:44-45. The last part of v. 45 is a parenthetical note by the author. The major problem in these verses concerns the contradiction between the proverb stated by Jesus in v. 44 and the reception of the Galileans in v. 45. Origen solved the problem by referring his own country to Judea (which Jesus had just left) and not Galilee. But this runs counter to the thrust of John’s Gospel, which takes pains to identify Jesus with Galilee (cf. 1:46) and does not even mention his Judean birth. R. E. Brown typifies the contemporary approach: He regards v. 44 as an addition by a later redactor who wanted to emphasize Jesus’ unsatisfactory reception in Galilee. Neither expedient is necessary, though, if honor is understood in its sense of attributing true worth to someone. The Galileans did welcome him, but their welcome was to prove a superficial response based on what they had seen him do at the feast. There is no indication that the signs they saw brought them to place their faith in Jesus any more than Nicodemus did on the basis of the signs. But a superficial welcome based on enthusiasm for miracles is no real honor at all.
[4:46] 92 map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.
[4:46] 93 sn See John 2:1-11.
[4:46] 95 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
[4:46] 96 tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.
[4:47] 97 tn The direct object of ἠρώτα (hrwta) is supplied from context. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
[4:48] 98 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than the royal official alone).
[4:48] 99 tn Or “you never believe.” The verb πιστεύσητε (pisteushte) is aorist subjunctive and may have either nuance.
[4:50] 100 tn Grk “Go”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
[4:50] 101 tn Grk “and left.” The words “for home” are implied by the following verse.
[4:51] 102 sn While he was on his way down. Going to Capernaum from Cana, one must go east across the Galilean hills and then descend to the Sea of Galilee. The 20 mi (33 km) journey could not be made in a single day. The use of the description on his way down shows the author was familiar with Palestinian geography.
[4:51] 103 tn Traditionally, “servants.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
[4:52] 105 tn BDAG 558 s.v. κομψότερον translates the idiom κομψότερον ἔχειν (komyoteron ecein) as “begin to improve.”
[4:52] 106 tn The second οὖν (oun) in 4:52 has been translated as “and” to improve English style by avoiding redundancy.
[4:52] 107 tn Grk “at the seventh hour.”
[4:53] 108 tn Grk “at that hour.”
[4:54] 109 tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. 2:11 where the same construction occurs.
