John 4:4
Context4:4 But he had 1 to pass through Samaria. 2
John 4:7
Context4:7 A Samaritan woman 3 came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water 4 to drink.”
John 4:5
Context4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town 5 called Sychar, 6 near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 7


[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
[4:7] 3 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] 4 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
[4:5] 5 tn Grk “town of Samaria.” The noun Σαμαρείας (Samareias) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
[4:5] 6 sn Sychar was somewhere in the vicinity of Shechem, possibly the village of Askar, 1.5 km northeast of Jacob’s well.