John 4:9

4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew ¹  – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water ²  to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common ³  with Samaritans.) ⁴ 

John 19:23

19:23 Now when the soldiers crucified ⁵  Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, ⁶  and the tunic ⁷  remained. (Now the tunic ⁸  was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece.) ⁹ 

[4:9]  ¹ 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]  ² tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:23]  ⁵ sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:23]  ⁶ sn Four shares, one for each soldier. The Gospel of John is the only one to specify the number of soldiers involved in the crucifixion. This was a quaternion, a squad of four soldiers. It was accepted Roman practice for the soldiers who performed a crucifixion to divide the possessions of the person executed among themselves.

[19:23]  ⁷ tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

[19:23]  ⁸ tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). See the note on the same word earlier in this verse.

[19:23]  ⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.