John 4
Tree of Life Version
Yeshua Offers Living Water
4 Now Yeshua knew that the Pharisees heard that He was making and immersing more disciples than John. 2 (Although Yeshua Himself was not immersing, His disciples were.) 3 So He left Judea and went back again to the Galilee.
4 But He needed to pass through Samaria. 5 So He comes to a Samaritan town called Shechem, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. [a] 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. So Yeshua, exhausted from the journey, was sitting by the well. It was midday.[b]
7 A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Yeshua tells her, 8 for His disciples had gone away to the town to buy food.
9 Then the Samaritan woman tells Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jewish people don’t deal with Samaritans.)
10 Yeshua replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “You don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Then from where do You get this living water? 12 You’re not greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us this well. He drank out of it himself, with his sons and his cattle.”
13 Yeshua replied to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty. The water that I give him will become a fountain of water within him, springing up to eternal life!”
15 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “give me this water, so I won’t get thirsty or have to come all the way here to draw water!”
16 He tells her, “Go call your husband, and then come back here.”
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Yeshua tells her, “You’ve said it right, ‘I have no husband.’ 18 For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. This you’ve spoken truthfully!”
19 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “I see that You are a prophet! 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you all say that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Yeshua tells her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming—it is here now—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshipers. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman tells Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Anointed One.)[c] When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26 Yeshua tells her, “I—the One speaking to you—I am.”
Ready for Harvest
27 At this moment, His disciples came back. They were amazed that He was speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You speaking with her?”
28 So the woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She tells the people, 29 “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did! He couldn’t be the Messiah, could He?” 30 The people left the town and began coming to Him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were pressing Him, “Rabbi, eat!”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 So the disciples were saying to each other, “No one brought Him food to eat, did they?”
34 Yeshua tells them, “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 35 Don’t you say, ‘Four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields! They are white and ready for harvest.
36 “The reaper receives a reward and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you haven’t worked for. Others have worked hard, and you have joined in their work.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town put their trust in Him because of the word of the woman testifying, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they kept asking Him to stay with them. He stayed there two days, 41 and many more believed because of His word. 42 They kept telling the woman, “It’s no longer because of your words that we believe. We’ve heard for ourselves! Now we know that this really is the Savior of the world!”
Life for a Dying Son
43 After the two days, He went on from there into the Galilee. 44 Now Yeshua Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 But when He came into the Galilee, they welcomed Him. For they had seen all He had done at the feast in Jerusalem, since they also had gone up to celebrate.
46 So He went again to Cana of the Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. Now there was a nobleman whose son was sick in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Yeshua had come from Judea to the Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.
48 Then Yeshua said to him, “Unless you all see signs and wonders, you’ll never believe!”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Yeshua tells him, “Go! Your son lives!”
The man believed the word that Yeshua said to him and started off. 51 While on his way down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he asked them the hour when the boy began to get better. They said, “The fever left him yesterday at about the seventh hour.”[d]
53 Then the father realized that it was the same hour Yeshua said to him, “Your son lives!” Now he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54 Yeshua did this as the second sign, after He had come again from Judea into the Galilee.
Footnotes
- John 4:6 Most mss. say Sychar; cf. Gen. 33:18-19; 48:22(48:22 LXX); Josh. 24:32.
- John 4:6 Lit. about the sixth hour.
- John 4:25 Christ (Gk.) and Messiah (Heb.) both mean Anointed One.
- John 4:52 One o’clock.
John 4
Common English Bible
Jesus leaves Judea
4 Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John (2 although Jesus’ disciples were baptizing, not Jesus himself). 3 Therefore, he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
Jesus in Samaria
4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food.
9 The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)
10 Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
“You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. 18 “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.”
19 The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. 24 God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.”[a]
27 Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.
31 In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples asked each other, “Has someone brought him food?”
34 Jesus said to them, “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then it’s time for harvest’? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. 36 Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. 37 This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. 38 I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.”
39 Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.”
Jesus arrives in Galilee
43 After two days Jesus left for Galilee. (44 Jesus himself had testified that prophets have no honor in their own country.) 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the festival, for they also had been at the festival.
Jesus’ second miraculous sign in Galilee
46 He returned to Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus was coming from Judea to Galilee, he went out to meet him and asked Jesus if he would come and heal his son, for his son was about to die. 48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you see miraculous signs and wonders, you won’t believe.”
49 The royal official said to him, “Lord, come before my son dies.”
50 Jesus replied, “Go home. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and set out for his home.
51 While he was on his way, his servants were already coming to meet him. They said, “Your son lives!” 52 So he asked them at what time his son had started to get better. And they said, “The fever left him yesterday at about one o’clock in the afternoon.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did while going from Judea to Galilee.
Footnotes
- John 4:26 Or It is I, the one who speaks with you.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible