Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

1When Jesusa knew that the •Phariseesb heard He was makingc and baptizing more disciples than Johnd 2(though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3He left Judeae and went again to Galilee.f 4He had to travel through Samaria,g 5so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the propertyh that Jacobi had given his son Joseph.j 6Jacob’s wellk was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well. It was about six in the evening.l

7A woman of Samaria came to draw water.m

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8for His disciples had gone into town to buy food.

9“How is it that You, a Jew,n ask for a drink from me, a •Samaritano woman? ” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate withp Samaritans.q

10Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God,r and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”s

11“Sir,”t said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? 12You aren’t greater than our father Jacob,u are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

13Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again — ever!v In fact, the water I will give him will become a wellw,x of water springing up within him for eternal life.”y

15“Sir,” the woman said to Him, “give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”

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

17“I don’t have a husband,” she answered.

“You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. 18“For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

19“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,z, aa yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”ab

21 Jesus told her, “Believe Me, •woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritansac worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.ad 23But an hour is coming, and is now here,ae when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24God is spirit,af and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”ag

25The woman said to Him, “I know that •Messiahah, ai is coming” (who is called Christaj). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

26“I am He,”ak Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”

The Ripened Harvest

27Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want? ” or “Why are You talking with her? ”

28Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah? ”al 30They left the town and made their way to Him.am

31In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “•Rabbi,an eat something.”

32But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

33The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat? ”

34“My food is to do the will of Himao who sent Meap and to finish His work,”aq Jesus told them. 35“Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Openar your eyes and look at the fields, for they are readyas for harvest. 36The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,at so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’au 38I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited fromav their labor.”

The Savior of the World

39Now many Samaritansaw from that town believed in Him because of what the woman saidax when she testified,ay “He told me everything I ever did.” 40Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him,az they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41Many more believed because of what He said.ba 42And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Saviorbb of the world.”bc

A Galilean Welcome

43After two days He left there for Galilee.bd 44Jesus Himself testifiedbe that a prophet has no honor in his own country.bf 45Whenbg they entered Galilee, the Galileansbh welcomed Him because they had seen everything He did in Jerusalembi during the festival.bj For they also had gone to the festival.

The Second Sign: Healing an Official’s Son

46Then He went again to Canabk of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum.bl 47When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judeabm into Galilee, he went to Him and pleaded with Him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.

48Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders,bn you will not believe.”bo

49“Sir,”bp the official said to Him, “come down before my boy dies! ”

50“Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed whatbq Jesus said to him and departed.

51While he was still going down, his •slaves met him saying that his boy was alive. 52He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at seven in the morningbr the fever left him,” they answered. 53The fatherbs realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” Then he himself believed, along with his whole household.

54This, therefore, was the second signbt Jesus performed after He came from Judea to Galilee.bu