John 4:1-43

New American Standard Bible

Jesus Goes to Galilee

4 So then, when ^(A)the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that ^[a]He was making and ^(B)baptizing more disciples than John ²(although ^(C)Jesus Himself was not baptizing; rather, His ^(D)disciples were), ³He left ^(E)Judea and went away ^(F)again to Galilee. ⁴And He had to pass through ^(G)Samaria. ⁵So He *came to a city of ^(H)Samaria called Sychar, near ^(I)the parcel of land that ^(J)Jacob gave to his son Joseph; ⁶and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was just sitting by the well. It was about ^[b]the sixth hour.

The Woman of Samaria

⁷A woman of Samaria *came to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸For His ^(K)disciples had gone away to ^(L)the city to buy food. ⁹So the ^(M)Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, though You are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?” (For ^(N)Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus 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 ^(O)living water.” ¹¹She *said to Him, “^[c]Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this ^(P)living water? ¹²You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who ^(Q)gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?” ¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^(R)shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to ^(S)eternal life.”

¹⁵The woman *said to Him, “^[d]Sir, ^(T)give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.” ¹⁶He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” ¹⁷The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.” ¹⁹The woman *said to Him, “^[e]Sir, I perceive that You are ^(U)a prophet. ²⁰^(V)Our fathers worshiped on ^(W)this mountain, and yet you Jews say that ^(X)in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.” ²¹Jesus *said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that ^[f]^(Y)a time is coming when you will worship the Father ^(Z)neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²^(AA)You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because ^(AB)salvation is from the Jews. ²³But ^[g]^(AC)a time is coming, and ^[h]even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^(AD)in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be ^[i]His worshipers. ²⁴God is ^[j]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship ^(AE)in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman *said to Him, “I know that ^(AF)Messiah is coming (^(AG)He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus *said to her, “^(AH)I am He, the One speaking to you.”

²⁷And at this point His ^(AI)disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What are You seeking?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and *said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man ^(AJ)who told me all the things that I have done; ^(AK)this is not the ^[k]Christ, is He?” ³⁰They left the city and were coming to Him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “^(AL)Rabbi, eat something.” ³²But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the ^(AM)disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” ³⁴Jesus *said to them, “My food is to ^(AN)do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^(AO)accomplish His work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white ^(AP)for harvest. ³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving ^(AQ)wages and is gathering ^(AR)fruit for ^(AS)eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷For in this case the saying is true: ‘^(AT)One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have ^[l]come into their labor.”

The Samaritans

³⁹Now from ^(AU)that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “^(AV)He told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to ^[m]Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹Many more believed because of His word; ⁴²and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is ^(AW)the Savior of the world.”