John 4:4–26

⁴on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

^5*In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

^9*The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)^h

¹⁰Jesus answered, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

¹¹“Sir,” the woman said, “you haven’t got a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ¹²It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

¹³Jesus answered, “All those who drink this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.”

¹⁵“Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.” ¹⁶“Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

¹⁷“I haven’t got a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. ¹⁸You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

¹⁹“I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ²⁰“My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. ²³But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. ²⁴God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

²⁶Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”