John 4:4

Conversation With a Samaritan Woman

4:4 But he had ¹  to pass through Samaria. ² 

John 4:30

4:30 So ³  they left the town and began coming ⁴  to him.

John 7:5

7:5 (For not even his own brothers believed in him.) ⁵ 

John 7:43

7:43 So there was a division in the crowd ⁶  because of Jesus. ⁷ 

John 8:30

8:30 While he was saying these things, many people ⁸  believed in him.

John 8:55

8:55 Yet ⁹  you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, ¹⁰  I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey ¹¹  his teaching. ¹² 

John 9:13

The Pharisees’ Reaction to the Healing

9:13 They brought the man who used to be blind ¹³  to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ 

[4:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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 b.c.; (2) Foreign colonists brought in from Babylonia and Media by the Assyrian conquerors to settle the land with inhabitants who would be loyal to Assyria. There was theological opposition between the Samaritans and the Jews because the former refused to worship in Jerusalem. After the exile the Samaritans put obstacles in the way of the Jewish restoration of Jerusalem, and in the 2nd century b.c. the Samaritans helped the Syrians in their wars against the Jews. In 128 b.c. the Jewish high priest retaliated and burned the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim.

[4:30]  ³ tn “So” is supplied for transitional smoothness in English.

[4:30]  ⁴ 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.

[7:5]  ⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[7:43]  ⁷ tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:43]  ⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:30]  ⁹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity and smoothness in the translation.

[8:55]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Yet” to indicate the contrast present in the context.

[8:55]  ¹² tn Grk “If I say, ‘I do not know him.’”

[8:55]  ¹³ tn Grk “I keep.”

[8:55]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “his word.”

[9:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “who was formerly blind.”

[9:13]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.