1 Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), 3 he left Judea and went back again to Galilee. 4 But it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria, called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 The well of Jacob was there. Jesus was tired from his journey and sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 For his disciples had gone away into the town to buy food. 9 Then the Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, are asking me, being a Samaritan woman, for something to drink?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not have a bucket and the well is deep. Where then do you have the living water? 12 You are not greater, are you, than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus replied and said to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. Instead, the water that I will give him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I may not become thirsty and not have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus replied, “You are right in saying, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people have to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, that 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 However, the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to be his worshipers. 24 God is Spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming (the one called Christ). When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking to you.” 27 At that moment his disciples returned. Now they were wondering why he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water pot, went back to the town, and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I have ever done. This could not be the Christ, could it?” 30 They left the town and came to him. 31 In the meantime, the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to each other, “No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, 'There are four more months and then the harvest comes'? I am saying to you, look up and see the fields, for they are already ripe for harvest! 36 He who is harvesting receives wages and gathers fruit for everlasting life, so that he who sows and he who harvests may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying, 'One sows, and another harvests,' is true. 38 I sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans in that city believed in him because of the report of the woman who was testifying, “He told me everything that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is indeed the savior of the world.” 43 After those two days, he departed from there for Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all the things that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they had also gone to the festival. 46 Now he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. There was a certain royal official whose son in Capernaum was ill. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 48 Jesus then said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went away. 51 While he was going down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to improve. They replied to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that it was at that hour that Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives.” So he himself and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign that Jesus did when he came out of Judea to Galilee.
John 4 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
Places
Cana
Cana's exact site is debated — Kafr Kanna and Khirbet Qana near Nazareth are the leading candidates (approximate location). It is remembered as the place of Jesus' first miracle.
Cited in the guide: John 2:1-11; John 4:46
Cross references (52)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 John 3:26; John 3:22; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Luke 1:76; 1 Corinthians 15:47
- 2 1 Corinthians 1:13–17; Acts 10:48
- 3 Matthew 10:23; John 11:54; John 3:22; John 10:40; John 2:11
- 4 Luke 17:11; Luke 9:51–52; Matthew 10:5–6; Luke 2:49
- 5 Joshua 24:32; Genesis 33:19; Genesis 48:22; John 4:12
- 6 Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 2:17; Matthew 8:24; Matthew 4:2; Matthew 27:45
- 7 Matthew 10:42; 1 Kings 17:10; John 19:28; Genesis 24:43; 2 Samuel 23:15–17
- 8 John 6:5–7; Luke 9:13; John 4:39; John 4:5
- 9 Acts 10:28; 2 Kings 17:24–41; Matthew 10:5; John 8:48; Luke 17:16–19
- 10 John 4:14; Revelation 7:17; John 7:37–39; Isaiah 44:3; Revelation 21:6
- 11 1 Corinthians 2:14; John 3:4
- 12 John 8:53; Matthew 12:42; Hebrews 3:3; Isaiah 53:2–3; John 4:6
- 13 John 6:27; Isaiah 65:13–14; Luke 16:24
- 14 John 7:38–39; John 6:35; Isaiah 49:10; Revelation 7:16; Ephesians 1:13–14
- 15 John 6:34; Romans 8:5; Psalm 4:6; James 4:3; John 6:26
- 16 Hebrews 4:13; Revelation 2:23; John 21:17; John 2:24–25; John 4:18
- 18 Jeremiah 3:20; Romans 7:3; 1 Corinthians 7:10–11; Mark 10:12; Genesis 34:7–8
- 19 John 6:14; Luke 7:39; John 9:17; Luke 7:16; John 7:40
- 20 Deuteronomy 12:5–11; Genesis 33:18–20; 2 Chronicles 7:12; Genesis 12:6–7; Deuteronomy 11:29
- 21 1 Timothy 2:8; Ephesians 2:18; Malachi 1:11; Matthew 18:20; John 4:23
- 22 Acts 17:23; Romans 9:4–5; Isaiah 2:3; Luke 24:47; Acts 17:30
- 23 Philippians 3:3; Matthew 15:7–9; John 5:25; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:26
- 24 2 Corinthians 3:17; Matthew 15:8–9; Philippians 3:3; Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 57:15
- 25 John 1:49; Daniel 9:24–26; John 4:29; John 4:42; Matthew 1:16
- 26 John 8:24; Mark 14:61–62; John 9:35–37; Romans 10:20–21; Matthew 26:63–64
- 27 Luke 7:39; John 4:8–9
- 28 John 4:7; Luke 24:33; Matthew 28:8; Luke 24:9; Mark 16:8–10
- 29 Revelation 22:17; 1 Corinthians 14:24–25; John 1:41–49; John 4:25; John 4:17–18
- 30 Acts 10:33; Acts 13:42; Matthew 11:20–24; Matthew 2:1–3; Luke 17:16–18
- 31 John 1:38; Genesis 24:33
- 32 Job 23:12; Psalm 119:103; John 4:34; Proverbs 18:20; Jeremiah 15:16
- 33 Luke 9:45; Matthew 16:6–11
- 34 John 6:38; John 5:30; Job 23:12; John 17:4; John 19:30
- 35 Luke 10:2–3; Matthew 9:37–38
- 36 James 5:19–20; 1 Corinthians 3:5–9; Romans 1:13; Proverbs 11:30; 2 Timothy 4:7–8
- 37 Micah 6:15; Job 31:8; Judges 6:3; Luke 19:21
- 38 John 1:7; Acts 10:42–43; 2 Chronicles 36:15; 1 Peter 1:11–12; Acts 8:14–17
- 39 John 4:29; John 4:5; John 10:41–42; John 11:45; John 4:42
- 40 Revelation 3:20; Luke 24:29; 2 Corinthians 6:1–2; Acts 16:15; Luke 8:38
- 41 Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:4–5; Acts 8:25; Acts 8:12; Matthew 7:28–29
- 42 1 John 4:14; John 1:29; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 John 5:20; 2 Corinthians 5:19
- 43 Mark 7:27–28; Matthew 15:21–24; Matthew 4:13; John 4:40; Romans 15:8
- 44 Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:24; Mark 6:4
- 45 John 2:23; John 2:13–16; Deuteronomy 16:16; Luke 9:53; John 3:2
- 46 John 2:1–11; Psalm 50:15; Hosea 5:15; Matthew 9:18; Luke 8:42
- 47 Acts 9:38; John 11:32; Luke 7:6–8; Mark 10:47; Luke 8:41
- 48 John 20:29; 1 Corinthians 1:22; Hebrews 2:4; Daniel 4:2; John 12:37
- 49 Mark 5:23; Mark 5:35–36; Psalm 88:10–12; Psalm 40:17
- 50 Matthew 8:13; Romans 4:20–21; Mark 7:29–30; Luke 17:14; Acts 14:9–10
- 51 1 Kings 17:23
- 53 Psalm 107:20; Luke 19:9; Psalm 33:9; Acts 16:34; Acts 11:14
- 54 John 2:1–11; John 4:45
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
It is nothing new to your ears, beloved, that the Evangelist John, like an eagle, takes a loftier flight, and soars above the dark mist of earth, to gaze with steadier eyes upon the light of truth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Scripture calls the grace of the Spirit sometimes "Fire," sometimes "Water," showing that these names are not descriptive of its essence, but of its operation; for the Spirit, being Invisible and Simple, cannot be made up of different substances. Now the one John declares, speaking thus, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with Fire" ( Matt. iii.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 14 (1889)
Then, again, withdrawing Himself [from Judæa], He is found in Samaria; on which occasion, too, He conversed with the Samaritan woman, and while at a distance, cured the son of the centurion by a word, saying, "Go thy way, thy son liveth." Afterwards He went up, the second time, to observe the festival day of the passover in Jerusalem; on …
… out more frequent prayers and tears, that Thou wouldest hasten Thy aid, and enlighten my darkness; and she hurried all the more assiduously to the church, and hung upon the words of Ambrose, praying for the fountain of water that springeth up into everlasting life. For she loved that man as an angel of God, because she knew that it …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
He, for example, who is set down in John, is for dragging Him unto his house, and saith, "Come down, for my child is ready to die." But not so this man; rather he is far superior both to him, and to those who let down the bed through the roof.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)