> [[john-03|← Previous]] | [[john-00|TOC]] | [[john-05|Next →]] --- # John, Chapter 4 ## Chapter 4 1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ^john-04-1 2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, just his disciples), ^john-04-2 3 he left Judea and returned to Galilee. ^john-04-3 **The Samaritan Woman.** 4 He had to pass through Samaria. ^john-04-4 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ^john-04-5 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. ^john-04-6 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ^john-04-7 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. ^john-04-8 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) ^john-04-9 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ^john-04-10 11 \[The woman\] said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep; where then can you get this living water? ^john-04-11 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” ^john-04-12 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; ^john-04-13 14 but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ^john-04-14 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” ^john-04-15 16 Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” ^john-04-16 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ ^john-04-17 18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ^john-04-18 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. ^john-04-19 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” ^john-04-20 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ^john-04-21 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. ^john-04-22 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. ^john-04-23 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” ^john-04-24 25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” ^john-04-25 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” ^john-04-26 27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” ^john-04-27 28 The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, ^john-04-28 29 “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” ^john-04-29 30 They went out of the town and came to him. ^john-04-30 31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” ^john-04-31 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” ^john-04-32 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” ^john-04-33 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. ^john-04-34 35 Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. ^john-04-35 36 The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. ^john-04-36 37 For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ^john-04-37 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” ^john-04-38 39 Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” ^john-04-39 40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ^john-04-40 41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word, ^john-04-41 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” ^john-04-42 **Return to Galilee.** 43 After the two days, he left there for Galilee. ^john-04-43 44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. ^john-04-44 45 When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast. ^john-04-45 **Second Sign at Cana.** 46 Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. ^john-04-46 47 When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. ^john-04-47 48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” ^john-04-48 49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ^john-04-49 50 Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. ^john-04-50 51 While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. ^john-04-51 52 He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” ^john-04-52 53 The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. ^john-04-53 54 \[Now\] this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea. ^john-04-54 \* (4:1] – [42) Jesus in Samaria. The self-revelation of Jesus continues with his second discourse, on his mission to “half-Jews.” It continues the theme of replacement, here with regard to cult (([[john-04|Jn 4]]:n-04|Jn 4]]:n-04|Jn 4]]:21]). Water (([[john-04|Jn 4]]:7] – [15]) serves as a symbol (as at Cana and in the Nicodemus episode). \* (4:2) An editorial refinement of [Jn 3:22], perhaps directed against followers of John the Baptist who claimed that Jesus imitated him. \* (4:4) He had to: a theological necessity; geographically, Jews often bypassed Samaria by taking a route across the Jordan. \* (4:5) Sychar: Jerome identifies this with Shechem, a reading found in Syriac manuscripts. \* (4:9) Samaritan women were regarded by Jews as ritually impure, and therefore Jews were forbidden to drink from any vessel they had handled. \* (4:10) Living water: the water of life, i.e., the revelation that Jesus brings; the woman thinks of “flowing water,” so much more desirable than stagnant cistern water. On John’s device of such misunderstanding, cf. note on [Jn 3:3]. \* (4:11) Sir: the Greek *kyrios* means “master” or “lord,” as a respectful mode of address for a human being or a deity; cf. ([[john-04|Jn 4]]:19]. It is also the word used in the Septuagint for the Hebrew *’adônai*, substituted for the tetragrammaton YHWH. \* (4:20) This mountain: Gerizim, on which a temple was erected in the fourth century B.C. by Samaritans to rival Mount Zion in Jerusalem; cf. [Dt 27:4] (Mount Ebal = the Jews’ term for Gerizim). \* (4:23) In Spirit and truth: not a reference to an interior worship within one’s own spirit. The Spirit is the spirit given by God that reveals truth and enables one to worship God appropriately ([Jn 14:16] – [17]). Cf. “born of water and Spirit” ([Jn 3:5]). \* (4:25) The expectations of the Samaritans are expressed here in Jewish terminology. They did not expect a messianic king of the house of David but a prophet like Moses ([Dt 18:15]). \* (4:26) I am he: it could also be translated “I am,” an Old Testament self-designation of Yahweh ([Is 43:3], etc.); cf. [[john-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:n-06|Jn 6]]:20]; [8:24], [28], [58]; [13:19]; [18:5] – [6], [8]. See note on ([[mark-06|Mk 6]]:50]. \* (4:27) Talking with a woman: a religious and social restriction that Jesus is pictured treating as unimportant. \* (4:35) ‘In four months…’: probably a proverb; cf. ([[matthew-09|Mt 9]]:37] – [38]. \* (4:36) Already: this word may go with the preceding verse rather than with ([[john-04|Jn 4]]:36]. \* (4:39) The woman is presented as a missionary, described in virtually the same words as the disciples are in Jesus’ prayer ([[john-17|Jn 17]]:20]). \* (4:43] – [54) Jesus’ arrival in Cana in Galilee; the second sign. This section introduces another theme, that of the life-giving word of Jesus. It is explicitly linked to the first sign ([Jn 2:11]). The royal official believes (([[john-04|Jn 4]]:50]). The natural life given his son is a sign of eternal life. \* (4:44) Probably a reminiscence of a tradition as in ([[mark-06|Mk 6]]:4]. Cf. Gospel of Thomas 4:31: “No prophet is acceptable in his village, no physician heals those who know him.” \* (4:46] – [54) The story of the cure of the royal official’s son may be a third version of the cure of the centurion’s son (([[matthew-08|Mt 8]]:5] – [13]) or servant (([[luke-07|Lk 7]]:1] – [10]). Cf. also ([[matthew-15|Mt 15]]:21] – [28]; ([[mark-07|Mk 7]]:24] – [30]. a. (4:5) [Gn 33:18] – [19]; [48:22]; [Jos 24:32]. b. (4:9) [Sir 50:25] – [26]; [[matthew-10|Mt 10]]:5]. c. (4:10) [[sirach-24|Sir 24]]:20 – [21]; [Is 55:1]; [Jer 2:13]. d. (4:12) [8:53]; ([[matthew-12|Mt 12]]:41]. e. (4:14) [6:35], [58]; [7:37] – [39]; [Is 44:3]; [49:10]; [Jl 4:18]; ([[revelation-07|Rv 7]]:16]; [21:6]. f. (4:18) [[2-kings-17|2 Kgs 17]]:24 – [34]. g. (4:19) [9:17]; [Hos 1:3]. h. (4:20) [Dt 11:29]; [27:4]; [Jos 8:33]; [Ps 122:1] – [5]. i. (4:22) [[2-kings-17|2 Kgs 17]]:27; [Ps 76:2] – [3]. j. (4:24) ([[2-corinthians-03|2 Cor 3]]:17]. k. (4:25) [1:41]. l. (4:26) [9:37]. m. (4:34) [5:30], [36]; [6:38]; [9:4]; [17:4]. n. (4:35) ([[matthew-09|Mt 9]]:37] – [38]; ([[luke-10|Lk 10]]:2]; [Rv 14:15]. o. (4:36) [Ps 126:5] – [6]; [Am 9:13] – [14]. p. (4:37) [Dt 20:6]; [28:30]; [Jb 31:8]; [Mi 6:15]. q. (4:42) ([[1-john-04|1 Jn 4]]:14]. r. (4:44) ([[matthew-13|Mt 13]]:57]; ([[mark-06|Mk 6]]:4]; ([[luke-04| [[luke-04|Lk 4]]:]]:24]. s. (4:46] – [54) [2:1] – [11]; ([[matthew-08|Mt 8]]:5] – [13]; [15:21] – [28]; ([[mark-07|Mk 7]]:24] – [30]; ([[luke-07|Lk 7]]:1] – [10]. t. (4:48) [2:18], [23]; ([[wisdom-08|Wis 8]]:8]; ([[matthew-12|Mt 12]]:38]; ([[1-corinthians-01|1 Cor 1]]:22]. u. (4:50) [[1-kings-17|1 Kgs 17]]:23. v. (4:54) [2:11]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[john-03|← Previous]] | [[john-00|TOC]] | [[john-05|Next →]]