John 4:7–42

⁷A woman from Samaria came to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew. I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” She said this because Jews don’t have anything to do with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “You do not know what God’s gift is. And you do not know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would have asked him. He would have given you living water.”

¹¹“Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t have anything to get water with. The well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

¹²“Our father Jacob gave us the well. He drank from it himself. So did his sons and his flocks and herds. Are you more important than he is?”

¹³Jesus answered, “All who drink this water will be thirsty again. ¹⁴But anyone who drinks the water I give him will never be thirsty. In fact, the water I give him will become a spring of water in him. It will flow up into eternal life.”

¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty. And I won’t have to keep coming here to get water.”

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

¹⁷“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands. And the man you have now is not your husband. What you have just said is very true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our people have worshiped on this mountain for a long time. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹Jesus said, “Believe me, woman. A time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know. Salvation comes from the Jews.

²³“But a new time is coming. In fact, it is already here. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. They are the kind of worshipers the Father is looking for.

²⁴“God is spirit. His worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

²⁵The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming.” (He is called Christ.) “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶Then Jesus said, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

The Disciples Join Jesus Again

²⁷Just then Jesus’ disciples returned. They were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want from her?” No one asked, “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸The woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She said to the people, ²⁹“Come. See a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Christ?”

³⁰The people came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus.

³¹His disciples were saying to him, “Rabbi, eat something!”

³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³Then his disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him food?”

³⁴Jesus said, “My food is to do what my Father sent me to do. My food is to finish his work.

³⁵“You say, ‘Four months more, and then it will be harvest time.’ But I tell you, open your eyes! Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest right now. ³⁶Those who gather the crop are already getting paid. They are already harvesting the crop for eternal life. So those who plant and those who gather can now be glad together.

³⁷“Here is a true saying. ‘One plants and another gathers.’ ³⁸I sent you to gather what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work. You have gathered the benefits of their work.”

Many Samaritans Believe in Jesus

³⁹Many of the Samaritans from the town of Sychar believed in Jesus. They believed because of the woman’s witness. She said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.”

⁴⁰Then the Samaritans came to him and tried to get him to stay with them. So he stayed two days. ⁴¹Because of his words, many more people became believers.

⁴²They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said. We have now heard for ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”