Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

¹ When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples), ³ He left Judea and returned to Galilee.

⁴ Now He had^* to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ “You are a Jew,”^* said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews^* do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift^* of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,”^* the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? ¹² Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. ¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water^* I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water^* I give him will become in him a fount^* of water^* springing up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. ¹⁸ In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time 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 do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But^* a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit^* and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit,^* and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit^* and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”

The Disciples Return and Marvel

²⁷ Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³² But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”

³⁴ Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

³⁶ Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.

⁴¹ And many more believed because of His message. ⁴² They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

⁴³ After two days, Jesus left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.^{* 45} Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone there as well.

⁴⁶ So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.

⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs^* and wonders,^* you will never believe.”

⁴⁹ “Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.”

⁵⁰ “Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at His word and departed. ⁵¹ And while he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy^* was alive.

⁵² So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”

⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the very hour in which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and all his household believed.

⁵⁴ This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.