John 4:4-42

4 ^aAnd he had to pass through Samaria. 5So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^bthat Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, ^cwearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ▼

▼That is, about noon

7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^e“Give me a drink.” 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ( ^fFor Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus 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 ^gliving water.” 11The 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 ^hAre you greater than our father Jacob? ⁱHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but ^jwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^kwill never be thirsty again. ▼

▼Greek forever

The water that I will give him will become ^min him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, ⁿgive me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16Jesus said to her, “Go, ^ocall your husband, and come here.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^pyou are ^qa prophet. 20 ^rOur fathers worshiped on ^sthis mountain, but you say that ^tin Jerusalem is ^uthe place where people ought to worship.” 21Jesus said to her, ^v“Woman, believe me, ^wthe hour is coming when ^xneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 ^yYou worship what you do not know; ^zwe worship what we know, for ^aasalvation is ^abfrom the Jews. 23But ^acthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^adin spirit and ^aetruth, for the Father ^afis seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that ^agMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^ahhe will tell us all things.” 26Jesus said to her, ^ai“I who speak to you am he.”

27Just then ^ajhis 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?” 28So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man ^akwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30They went out of the town and were coming to him.

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

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