John 4 - Prayer Tents

John 4

New Living Translation

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4Jesus[1] knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John

2(though Jesus himself didn't baptize them - his disciples did.)

3So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.

4He had to go through Samaria on the way.

5Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.

7Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink."

8He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

9The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans[2]. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"

10Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."

11"But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?

12And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?"

13Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.

14But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."

15"Please, sir," the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water."

16"Go and get your husband," Jesus told her.

17"I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband?

18for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!"

19"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet.

20So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim[3], where our ancestors worshiped?"

21Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.

22You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.

23But the time is coming - indeed it's here now - when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

24For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

25The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"[4]

27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, "What do you want with her?" or "Why are you talking to her?"

28The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone,

29"Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?"

30So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

31Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, "Rabbi, eat something."

32But Jesus replied, "I have a kind of food you know nothing about."

33"Did someone bring him food while we were gone?" the disciples asked each other.

34Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.

35You know the saying, `Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[5] for harvest.

36The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!

37You know the saying, `One plants and another harvests.' And it's true.

38I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest."

Many Samaritans Believe

39Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, "He told me everything I ever did!"

40When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days,

41long enough for many more to hear his message and believe.

42Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world."

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

43At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee.

44He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown.

45Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.

46As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick.

47When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.

48Jesus asked, "Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?"

49The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies."

50Then Jesus told him, "Go back home. Your son will live!" And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.

51While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well.

52He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, "Yesterday afternoon at one o'clock his fever suddenly disappeared!"

53Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.

54This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.

[1] John 4:1Some manuscripts read The Lord
[2] John 4:9Some manuscripts omit this sentence
[3] John 4:20Greek on this mountain
[4] John 4:26Or "The `I AM' is here"; or "I am the LORD"; Greek reads "I am, the one speaking to you." See Exod 3.14
[5] John 4:35Greek white