Joh 4 | ESV | STEP | Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^abaptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed ^bagain for Galilee. 4 ^cAnd he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^dthat Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, ^ewearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ^{▼▼That is, about noon}

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^g“Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ( ^hFor Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ⁱliving water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 ^jAre you greater than our father Jacob? ^kHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but ^lwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^mwill never be thirsty again. ^{▼▼Greek forever} The water that I will give him will become ^oin him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, ^pgive me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, ^qcall your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^ryou are ^sa prophet. 20 ^tOur fathers worshiped on ^uthis mountain, but you say that ^vin Jerusalem is ^wthe place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, ^x“Woman, believe me, ^ythe hour is coming when ^zneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 ^aaYou worship what you do not know; ^abwe worship what we know, for ^acsalvation is ^adfrom the Jews. 23 But ^aethe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^afin spirit and ^agtruth, for the Father ^ahis seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that ^aiMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^ajhe will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, ^ak“I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then ^alhis disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man ^amwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ^an“Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, ^ao“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, ^ap“My food is ^aqto do the will of him who sent me and ^arto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^asthe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^atsower and ^aureaper ^avmay rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ^aw‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap ^axthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^ayand you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans ^azfrom that town believed in him ^babecause of ^bbthe woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed ^bcbecause of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, ^bdand we know that this is indeed ^bethe Savior ^bfof the world.”

43 After ^bgthe two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified ^bhthat a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, ^bihaving seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For ^bjthey too had gone to the feast.

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

46 So he came again to ^bkCana in Galilee, ^blwhere he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus ^bmhad come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, ^bn“Unless you ^{▼▼The Greek for you is plural; twice in this verse} see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down ^bpbefore my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants ^{▼▼Greek bondservants} met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour ^{▼▼That is, at 1 p.m.} the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, ^bsand all his household. 54 ^btThis was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.