John 4:4-26 - Conversation With A Samaritan Woman

⁴ [Now to get to Galilee] it required that Jesus travel through Samaria [Note: Samaria was the next country north of Judea]. ⁵ So, He arrived at the Samaritan town called Sychar, which was near the piece of property that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's [spring-fed] well was there so Jesus, tired from His [long] journey, sat down beside the well just as He was [i.e., before doing anything else]. It was about six o'clock in the morning [Note: This would have been

⁷ [About then] a Samaritan woman came [to the well] to draw water. Jesus said to her, "[Please] give me a drink." ⁸ (Now Jesus' disciples had gone away to town to buy some food).

⁹ Therefore, the Samaritan woman asked Him, "Why is it that you, being a Jew, would ask a Samaritan woman [like me] for a drink?" (For Jews do not have any fellowship with Samaritans). [Note: The reason for this stemmed from longstanding religious, cultural and ethnic prejudices].

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, "If you [only] knew the [real] gift of God, and who it is that said to you, '[Please], give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."

¹¹ The woman [then] said to Him, "Sir, you do not have anything to draw [water] with, and the well is deep. Where will you get that living water? ¹² noon if Jewish time were meant]. ¹² noon if Jewish time were meant].

¹³ Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him will never get thirsty [again]. For the water I will give him will become in him [i.e., in his spirit] a spring of water, bubbling up and producing never ending life." [See John 7:38].

¹⁵ The woman [then] said to Him, "Sir, [please] give me [some of] that water, so that I do not get thirsty [again], or have to come all the way here to draw [water]."

¹⁶ Jesus replied to her, "Go call your husband and [then] come here."

¹⁷ The woman said to Him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus said to her, "You were right when you said, 'I do not have a husband,' ¹⁸ because you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not [really] your husband. So, you have told the truth."

¹⁹ [Then] the woman said to Jesus, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain [i.e., Mt. Gerizim, which was visible from where they were sitting]; but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people should worship [God]." ²⁰ Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain [i.e., Mt. Gerizim, which was visible from where they were sitting]; but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people should worship [God]."

²¹ Jesus replied to her, "[My dear] woman, believe me [when I tell you], the time will come when you people will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²² You [Samaritans] do not [really] know what you worship; we [Jews] know what we worship because salvation is from the Jews [i.e., through Jewish prophets, Jewish Scriptures and a Jewish Messiah]. ²³ But the time will come, and is now [actually] here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [i.e., from the heart] and truth [i.e., according to God's revealed will], for these are the people whom the Father seeks to be His worshipers. ²⁴ God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

²⁵ [Then] the woman said to Jesus, "I know that Messiah is coming ([He is] the One who is called Christ). And when He does come, He will tell us everything."

²⁶ Jesus replied to her, "I, who am speaking to you, am [the Messiah]."