John 4
1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
[At that time, many people were asking] Jesus to baptize them. He did not baptize people; it was [we] his disciples who were doing the baptizing. But when some of the Pharisee [religious group] heard [people say that] Jesus was making more disciples than John [the Baptizer] and was baptizing them, [they became very jealous].
2 (although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
3 he left Judea and departed into Galilee.
When the Lord [Jesus] heard about that, [so that the Pharisees would not cause trouble for him], he left Judea [district], and went again [with us disciples] to Galilee district.
4 He needed to pass through Samaria.
[He] knew that God wanted him to travel through Samaria [district].
5 So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
So we arrived at a town named Sychar in Samaria [district]. That was near the plot of ground that [our ancestor] Jacob had given to his son Joseph [long ago].
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
The well that [used to] belong to Jacob was on that plot of ground. Jesus was tired from walking. So while [we] disciples went into the town to buy some food, he sat down alongside the well. It was about noontime. A woman who [lived there] in Samaria came to get some water [from the well]. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me [from the well] some water [to drink]?” The [woman knew that] Jews did not like ([to touch things that belong to] Samaritans/[to] come near Samaritans), (OR, Jews did not like to associate with Samaritans, )
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
so the woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am from Samaria. Furthermore, I am a woman. So ([I am surprised] that you are asking me for a drink [of water]!/how is it that you are asking me for a drink [of water]?) [RHQ]”
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Jesus replied to her, “If you [(sg)] knew what God [wanted to] give you, and if you knew who I am, the one who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked me, and I would have given you water that gives life.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?
She [thought he was talking about] ordinary [water. So she] said to him, “Sir, you do not have a bucket [or a rope with which to get water from the well], and the well is deep. So [since you cannot get water from this well], where can you get that life-giving water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”
Our ancestor Jacob left us this well. He drank water from it, and there was [enough good water] so that his sons and his flocks [of sheep] and goats drank from it also. [Do you claim that] you are greater than Jacob, [and because of that you can give us life-giving water]?”
13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
Jesus replied to her, “Everyone who drinks water from this [well] will later become thirsty again.
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
The woman [did not understand that Jesus was speaking figuratively about something that would sustain her spiritually. So she] said to him, “Sir, give me that kind of water so that I will not get thirsty again, and so that I will not have to keep returning here to get water!”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
[Jesus knew that she did not understand, but he wanted to show her by his God-given knowledge of her personal life that because he was the Messiah he could supply her spiritual need. So] he said to her, “Woman, go and call your husband, and bring him here!”
17 The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’
She replied, “I do not have a husband!” Jesus said to her, “You said that you do not have a husband, and that is true.
18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
It is also true that you have had five husbands [one by one]. And the man you are living with now is not your husband! What you have said is very true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive you must be a prophet [because you are] able [to know people’s secrets].
20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
But [let me ask you a different question]: Our ancestors worshipped God here on [Gerizim Mountain], but you [Jews] say that Jerusalem is the place where we must worship [God. So who is right]?”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me [when I say that] there will be a time when it will not [matter whether] you worship [God our] Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem [or somewhere else].
22 You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
You [people from Samaria] do not know the one you are worshipping. But we [(exc) Jews] know whom we worship, because it is from [us] Jews that [God has sent the one who] will save people [from the guilt of their sins].
23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
However, there will be a time when those who genuinely worship God will worship him as [God’s] Spirit [directs] and according to [God’s] truth. In fact, that time is now. Those are the kind of worshipers my Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God is a spiritual being. So it is necessary that those who worship him must worship him as his Spirit [directs] and [according to God’s] truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything [we need to know].” (‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ [both mean ‘God’s promised king]’.)
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”
Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am [the Messiah]!”
27 Just then, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
Just then [we] disciples returned [from town]. [Since it was contrary to our custom for Jewish religious teachers to converse with a woman they did not know], we were surprised that he was talking to a woman. However, none of us asked her, “What do you want?” and none of us asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”
28 So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people,
The woman left her water jar there and went into the town. She said to the people there,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?”
“Come and see a man who [was able to] tell me all about my past life [HYP], [even though I never met him before] Could this man be the Messiah?”
30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
So [many people] left the town and started going to where Jesus was.
31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
Meanwhile, we disciples were urging him, “Teacher, eat [some of the food we brought]!”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
But he said to us, “I have food to eat that you do not know anything about!”
33 The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
So we started saying to each other, “(Surely no one has brought him any food [when we] were not [here]!/Has anyone brought him any food [when we] were not [here]?) [RHQ]”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Jesus said to us, “Doing what [my Father] who sent me wants [me to do] and finishing the work he [gave me to do] is ([what sustains me/like] my food) [MET].
35 Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
[At this time of the year] you are saying (OR, your ancestors used to say), ‘There are four months left before we harvest [the crops].’ But I say to you, look carefully [at the non-Jewish people around here. God says, ‘They are ready to accept my message] [MET], [like crops in] fields that are ready for people to harvest.
36 He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. (aiōnios g166)
[If you help them to accept my message], I will reward you [MET], [as an owner of a field] pays those who harvest the crops. Because of your work, people will gain eternal life.’ [I have been telling people God’s message. That is like] [MET] a man who plants seeds. [You will help people to accept my message. That will be like] [MET] harvesting crops. [When that happens], both you and I will rejoice. (aiōnios g166)
37 For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’
As a result, this saying will become true: One person plants [seeds], but others harvest [the crops].
38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
I am sending you [to enable people to accept my message, but you will not be the first ones who tell them God’s message]. Others [previously] worked hard [to tell people God’s message], and now you will be harvesting the results of their work.”
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.”
Many of the Samaria [district] people who [lived] in that town believed that Jesus [was the Messiah] because they heard what that woman said [about Jesus], “That man [was able to] tell me all about my past life [HYP]!”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
So when those people of Samaria came to Jesus, they urged him to stay with them. So we stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of his word.
Many more of those people believed ([in Jesus/that he was the Messiah]) because of what he said.
42 They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
They told the woman, “We believe in Jesus [now], but not [just] because of what you told us. Now we have heard him ourselves. And now we know that this man truly is the one who [can] save [people] [MTY] [from the guilt of their sins].”
43 After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
Jesus had said [previously] that people did not honor prophets [like himself when they tried to teach people] in their own home area. So, two days later, Jesus and [we] disciples left that area and went to [his own area in] Galilee [district, because he knew that people there would not think very highly of him, and as a result the Jewish leaders would not be jealous].
44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
However, when we arrived in Galilee [district, many] of the people there welcomed him, because they had been in Jerusalem during the [Passover] celebration and had seen all the things he did there.
46 Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Jesus went again to Cana in Galilee [district]. That was where he [previously] turned water into wine. There was one of the king’s officials who lived in Capernaum, whose son was very sick.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
When that man heard [others say] that Jesus had returned to Galilee [district] from Judea [district], he went to Jesus [in Cana] and pleaded with him, “Please come down [to Capernaum] and heal my son, who is about to die!”
48 Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”
Jesus said to him, “You people will believe my message only if you see me perform [more] miracles!”
49 The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
But the official said to him, “Sir, ([I] believe [in you/I believe that you came from God]). [So please] come down [to my home] before my son dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
Jesus said to him, “Then you may go [home]. Your son (will live/not die)!” The man believed what Jesus said, and left.
51 As he was going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!”
[The next day] while he was on the way home, his servants met him. They told him, “Your child is going to live!”
52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.”
He asked them, “At what time did my son start to become well?” They said to him, “His fever ceased yesterday [afternoon] at one o’clock.”
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house.
Then the boy’s father realized that this was the time Jesus told him, “Your son will (live/not die).” So he and all the people in his house believed [that Jesus was the Messiah].
54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
That was the second miracle that Jesus performed in Galilee [district], after he had returned from Judea [district].
