John 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 27-30
Location
Samaria (Jacob's well near Sychar) and Cana of Galilee
Audience
Likely a mixed audience of Jewish and Gentile Christians in the late first century, though recording events from Jesus' early ministry
Situation
Jesus travels from Judea through Samaria to Galilee, stopping at Jacob's well where he encounters a Samaritan woman. This route and interaction were culturally controversial since Jews typically avoided Samaritans and rabbis did not speak publicly with women.
Key Background
Jews and Samaritans had deep ethnic and religious hostility dating to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722 BC, when foreign peoples intermarried with remaining Israelites. Jews viewed Samaritans as racially and religiously impure half-breeds. Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem and accepted only the Torah, not the prophets. Jesus' willingness to speak with a Samaritan woman, stay in a Samaritan village, and declare himself as Messiah to her would have been shocking to Jewish audiences.
When Jesus learned that the had heard He was gaining and more followers than John —
(though it was actually His doing the submerging, not Jesus Himself) —
He left and headed back toward
And He had to go through
He arrived at a Samaritan town called near the piece of land that had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's was there. Jesus, from the journey, sat down right beside the It was about noon.
A woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
(His followers had gone into town to buy food.)
The woman said to Him, "How can You, a Jewish man, ask me, a woman, for a drink?" (Because Jewish people with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, "If you had any idea what to you, and who's actually asking you for a drink, you'd be the one asking Him — and He'd you
She said to Him, You don't even have a bucket, and this is deep. Where exactly are You going to get this 'living water'?"
"Are You greater than who gave us this well? He drank from it himself, and so did his sons and his livestock."
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again."
"But whoever drinks the water I give them will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become a inside them, up into
The woman said, "Sir, give me this water! Then I won't have to keep getting thirsty and coming all the way out here to draw water."
Jesus told her, "Go call your and come back here."
"I don't have a husband," the woman answered. Jesus said to her, "You're right when you say you don't have a husband."
"You've had and the man you're living with now isn't your husband. What you said is completely true."
"Sir," the woman said, "I can see You're a
"Our ancestors worshiped on this but you Jews claim that Jerusalem is the place where people have to
Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman — a time is coming when you won't worship the on this mountain or in Jerusalem."
You Samaritans worship what you don't fully understand. We worship what we do understand, because for the world comes through the Jewish people.
"But the time is coming — and it's already here — when worshipers will worship the Father in the and in These are the kind of worshipers the Father is looking for."
"God is and the people who worship Him have to worship in the Breath and in truth."
The woman said to Him, "I know that The is coming — the called 'the Anointed.' When He arrives, He'll explain everything to us."
Jesus said to her, "I am — the one talking to you right now."
Just then His followers returned and were to find Him talking with a woman. But none of them asked, "What do You want from her?" or "Why are You talking with her?"
The woman and ran back to town. She told the people,
"Come see a man who told me everything I've ever done! Could this be The
The people out of town and made their way toward Him.
Meanwhile, His followers were urging Him, eat something."
But He told them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."
So the followers started asking each other, "Did someone bring Him something to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "My is to do what the who me wants and to finish His work."
"Don't you have a saying, 'Four more months and then comes the But I'm telling you — open your eyes and look at the fields! They're already ripe for harvesting."
"The harvester is already being paid and is gathering a crop for so that the one who plants and the one who harvests can celebrate together."
"This is where that old saying proves true: 'One person plants, another harvests.'"
"I sent you to harvest what you didn't work for. Others did the hard work, and you've stepped into the results of their labor."
Many of the Samaritans from that town their in Jesus because of the woman's "He told me everything I've ever done."
So when the Samaritans came to Him, they begged Him to with them. And He stayed two days.
And far more people put their trust in Him because of what He said directly.
They told the woman, "We don't just believe because of what you told us anymore. Now we've heard Him ourselves, and we know this man really is the of the
After the two days, Jesus left and continued on to Galilee.
(Jesus Himself had said that a gets no respect in his own hometown.)
But when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him warmly. They had seen everything He did at the in Jerusalem, because they had been there too.
So Jesus went back to in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. There was a whose son was sick in Capernaum.
When the official heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Him and Him to come down and heal his son, who was close to death.
Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see and you just won't believe."
The official said to Him, "Sir, please come down before my dies."
said to him, "Go home. Your son is going to live." The man at and left.