CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
John 4
Chapter 4 of 21
Chapter Overview
What happens in John 4
Jesus passes through Samaria and engages a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in a conversation about living water and true worship. Many Samaritans believe in him. Jesus then returns to Cana and heals a nobleman's son from a distance, performing his second miraculous sign.
Scripture
John 4
The Woman at the Well
Study note
Breaking social and cultural barriers, Jesus initiates a conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. He offers her 'living water' that quenches spiritual thirst forever, then demonstrates prophetic knowledge of her personal life. When she raises the debate about where to worship, Jesus reveals that true worship transcends location -- the Father seeks worshippers who worship in spirit and truth. Jesus then reveals himself as the Messiah, the first time in John's gospel he makes this claim so directly.
1 Jesus found out that the Pharisees had heard he was gaining and baptizing more followers than John. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
2 (Jesus was not doing the baptizing himself. His followers were.) (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
3 So he left the area of Judaea and headed back toward Galilee. He left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee.
4 To get there, he needed to pass through the region of Samaria. And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 He came to a Samaritan town called Sychar. It was near the land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph long ago. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob's well was there. Jesus was worn out from traveling, so he sat down by the well to rest. It was around noon. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7 A Samaritan woman came to get water from the well. Jesus said to her, "Could you give me a drink?" There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (His followers had gone into town to buy food.) (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 The woman was surprised. "You are a Jewish man, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why would you ask me for a drink?" (She said this because Jewish people and Samaritans normally refused to have anything to do with each other.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus replied, "If you only knew what an incredible gift God wants to give you, and if you realized who is asking you for water right now, you would be the one asking me! And I would give you living water." Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you do not even have a bucket, and this well goes way down deep. Where exactly would you get this living water?" The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 "Our ancestor Jacob dug this well and drank from it himself, and so did his children and even his animals. Are you saying you are more important than Jacob?" Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus told her, "Everyone who drinks water from this well is going to get thirsty again." Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 "But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give becomes like a bubbling spring inside that person, flowing with life that goes on forever." But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 "Sir, please give me that water!" the woman said. "Then I would never get thirsty again, and I would never have to make this long trip to the well!" The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus told her, "Go home and bring your husband back here with you." Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 "I do not have a husband," the woman said. Jesus replied, "That is the honest truth -- you do not have a husband." The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 "The fact is, you have been married five different times, and the man you are living with right now is not your husband. You were being completely honest about that." For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman's eyes grew wide. "Sir, you must be a prophet!" she said. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 "Our ancestors always worshipped God on this mountain. But your people say everyone must go to Jerusalem to worship." Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus told her, "Trust me on this. A time is coming when it won't matter where you worship the Father. Not on this mountain. Not in Jerusalem." Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 "Your people worship without truly knowing who you are worshipping. We know who we worship, because God's plan to save the world began through the Jewish people." Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 "But the time is coming -- and it is already here -- when people who truly worship the Father will worship him from their spirits and in truth. Those are the kind of worshippers the Father is searching for." But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman said, "I know that the Messias is going to come -- the one called Christ. When he shows up, he will explain everything to us." The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus told her, "You are talking to him right now. I am the one." Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
The Samaritan Harvest
Study note
The woman leaves her water jar and becomes an evangelist, telling the townspeople about Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus teaches his disciples about spiritual food and harvest, declaring that the fields are already ripe. Many Samaritans believe first because of the woman's testimony and then because they hear Jesus themselves, confessing him as 'the Savior of the world.' This episode demonstrates how one transformed life can lead many others to faith.
27 At that moment, his followers came back. They were shocked to find him having a conversation with a woman, but nobody asked her what she wanted or questioned Jesus about why he was talking with her. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman left her water jar there. She hurried back to town and started telling everyone, The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 "Come with me and meet a man who told me everything I have ever done! Do you think he could be the Christ?" Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 People poured out of the town and headed toward Jesus. Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
31 Meanwhile, his followers were trying to get him to eat. "Teacher, please have some food," they said. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But he told them, "I already have food to eat that you do not know anything about." But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
33 The followers looked at each other and whispered, "Did someone else already bring him something to eat?" Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus explained, "The food that fills me up is doing what the one who sent me wants me to do and finishing the work he gave me." Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 "You have a saying: 'Wait four more months and then comes harvest time.' But I want you to open your eyes right now and look around at the fields -- they are ready to be harvested today!" Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 "The person who harvests receives pay and gathers a crop for life that lasts forever. That way the one who plants and the one who harvests can celebrate side by side." And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
37 "This proves the old saying: 'One person does the planting, and someone else does the picking.'" And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38 "I am sending you to harvest what you did not plant. Others did all the hard work before you, and now you get to step in and share the results." I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus. The woman had told them, "He told me every detail of my life." And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
40 When the Samaritans got to Jesus, they begged him to stay with them. So he stayed for two whole days. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
41 Because of what Jesus himself taught, even more people put their faith in him. And many more believed because of his own word;
42 They told the woman, "We no longer believe because of what you told us. We have heard him with our own ears now, and we are convinced -- this man truly is the Christ, the Saviour of the world." And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Healing the Nobleman's Son
Study note
Returning to Cana, Jesus is approached by a nobleman from Capernaum whose son is near death. Jesus challenges the crowd's dependence on signs and wonders, yet responds to the nobleman's desperate faith with the simple declaration, 'Your son lives.' The man believes Jesus' word and discovers his son recovered at the exact hour Jesus spoke. This second sign demonstrates that Jesus' power operates beyond physical proximity and that faith in his word alone is sufficient.
43 After spending those two days there, Jesus continued on his way to Galilee. Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
44 Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet gets no respect in his own hometown. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
45 When he got to Galilee, the people there gave him a warm welcome. They had been at the Passover feast in Jerusalem and had watched him do amazing things there. Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
46 Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee, the same town where he had turned water into wine. In the nearby city of Capernaum, a government official had a son who was very sick. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 As soon as this official heard that Jesus had come from Judaea into Galilee, he rushed to find him. He pleaded with Jesus to come and heal his boy, who was close to dying. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see big miracles and amazing signs, you will not believe, will you?" Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
49 The desperate father cried out, "Sir, please come quickly, before my little boy dies!" The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
50 Jesus told him, "Go on home. Your son is going to live." The man took Jesus at his word and left. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
51 While he was still on the road home, his servants ran out to meet him with the good news: "Your son is alive and well!" And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
52 He asked them exactly when his son started getting better. They told him, "The fever broke yesterday at one in the afternoon." Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
53 The father realized that was the exact moment Jesus had told him, "Your son is going to live." After that, he and everyone in his household became believers. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
54 This was the second miracle Jesus did. It happened after he came back from Judaea to Galilee. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee.
Key Themes
Themes in John 4
Living water and spiritual thirstTrue worship in spirit and truthBreaking social barriersPersonal testimony and evangelismFaith in Jesus' wordThe spiritual harvest
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
John 4:25-26 Deuteronomy 18:15
The Samaritan woman's expectation of a coming Messiah who would 'tell us all things' reflects the prophetic hope rooted in Moses' promise of a coming prophet, which Jesus fulfills by declaring 'I who speak to you am he.'
Apply This Today
Living John 4
The Samaritan woman's encounter teaches us that Jesus meets us in our brokenness and offers transformation regardless of our past. His teaching on worship reminds us that God is not confined to buildings or rituals but desires authentic hearts that worship in spirit and truth. The nobleman's story encourages us to take Jesus at his word, trusting his promises even when we cannot yet see the results.
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