Side by side
John 4
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Scene 1: A Tired TravelerVerses 1 to 6
A stone well sat beside the road, outside a town called Sychar. It was about noon.
Jesus had been in Judea, in the south. Many people there came to be baptized by his disciples. The Pharisees heard that Jesus had more followers than John the Baptist. So Jesus left.
Jesus had been walking a long way. He was going home from Judea to Galilee. John says he "had to pass through Samaria" (4:4). Samaria lay between the two.
Long ago, Jacob had given this land to his son Joseph. The well was called Jacob's well.
Jesus was tired. He sat down by the well. His disciples had gone into town to buy food. So Jesus was alone.
1When 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), 3He left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4Now He had to pass through Samaria. 5So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Scene 2: "Give Me a Drink"Verses 7 to 9
A Samaritan woman came to the well with a water jar.
Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink" (4:7).
The woman was surprised. "You are a Jew," she said. "How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (4:9).
John explains that Jews did not mix with Samaritans. And a Jewish teacher did not usually talk alone with a woman he did not know. Jesus set aside both of these customs to ask her for a drink.
The two groups had a long history. Jewish people and Samaritans both called Jacob their father. Both read the books of Moses. But each group believed the other had gone wrong, and each had hurt the other. That is why the woman was surprised.
7When 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.)
Scene 3: Living WaterVerses 10 to 15
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" (4:10).
Back then, "living water" meant fresh water from a spring or a stream. It kept flowing. This is a comparison. Jesus was talking about a gift from God that keeps giving life.
The woman thought Jesus meant ordinary water. "Sir, you don't have a bucket," she said. "And the well is deep. Where will you get this living water?" She asked if he was greater than their father Jacob, who gave them the well.
Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst" (4:13-14). His water would become a spring inside a person, bubbling up to eternal life.
The woman said, "Sir, give me this water" (4:15). Then she would never be thirsty. She would not have to keep coming back to the well.
10Jesus 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? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But 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.” 15The 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.”
Scene 4: Five HusbandsVerses 16 to 19
Jesus told her, "Go, call your husband and come back" (4:16).
"I have no husband," the woman replied (4:17).
Jesus said she was right. She had had five husbands. The man she was with now was not her husband. Then Jesus said, "You have spoken truthfully" (4:18).
The Bible doesn't say why she had five husbands. Back then, a woman usually could not divorce her husband. A husband could divorce his wife (Deuteronomy 24:1). Some of her husbands may have died. Some may have sent her away. The Bible does not tell us.
Jesus knew her whole story. He said it out loud. But he did not call her names, and he did not send her away.
The woman said, "Sir ... I see that You are a prophet" (4:19). A prophet is someone God sends to speak God's message.
16Jesus 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. 18In 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.
Scene 5: Which Mountain?Verses 20 to 24
The woman spoke about the mountain nearby. It was Mount Gerizim. Samaritans had worshiped God there for a long time.
"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain," she said. "But you Jews say people must worship in Jerusalem."
Jesus said a time was coming when people would worship God the Father. They would not worship him on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
Jesus was Jewish, and he said so. He told her that Samaritans worshiped what they did not know. The Jewish people worshiped what they knew. Then he said, "salvation is from the Jews" (4:22). Salvation means rescue. God's promise to rescue the world came through Israel.
Then Jesus said that time had already come. True worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Jesus said the Father is looking for people who worship him this way. "God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (4:24). God is not limited to one place.
20Our 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. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But 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. 24God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
Scene 6: "I Am He"Verses 25 to 26
The woman said, "I know that Messiah ... is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us" (4:25). Messiah means the king God promised to send. The Greek word for it is Christ.
Jesus answered her.
"I who speak to you am He" (4:26).
Until now in John's Gospel, Jesus had not said this so plainly to anyone. He had not said it to his disciples. He had not said it to the leaders in Jerusalem. He said it first to her.
She was a Samaritan. She was a woman. She had had five husbands. And she was the one Jesus told.
25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” 26Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”
Between scenesVerse 27
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
27Just 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?”
Scene 8: The Empty Water JarVerses 28 to 30
When the disciples came back, the woman left her water jar at the well. She went back into town.
She told the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (4:29).
She had come to carry water home. Now she left the jar behind. Earlier, she had asked Jesus for water so she would not have to keep coming back. Now she had news about Jesus to take to her town instead.
She did not hide from what Jesus knew about her. She told everyone that Jesus knew everything she had done. She was not sure of everything yet, so she asked a question. But she invited everyone to come and see.
The people left the town. They walked out toward Jesus. While they were on the way, Jesus was talking with his disciples about food and the harvest.
28Then 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?” 30So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.
Between scenesVerses 31 to 38
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
31Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?” 34Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. 35Do 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. 36Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. 37For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”
Scene 9: The Savior of the WorldVerses 39 to 42
Many Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because of what the woman said.
They asked Jesus to stay with them. So Jesus stayed with the Samaritans for two days.
Many more people believed when they heard Jesus for themselves.
They told the woman, "We now believe, and not only because of your words." "We have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world" (4:42).
Jesus had come to the well tired and thirsty. He asked a stranger for a drink. She went home with good news for her whole town.
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. 41And many more believed because of His message. 42They 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.”
Between scenesVerses 43 to 54
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
43After two days, Jesus left for Galilee. 44Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. 45Yet 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. 46So 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. 47When 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. 48Jesus 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. 51And while he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. 52So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” 53Then 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. 54This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.
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