else’s husband). If anēr is taken to mean ‘a man’, it is possible that she had never been married, but had had a series of affairs with men, culminating in a final adulterous relationship. The text does not enable us to determine which of these interpretations is correct. Either way, it seems Jesus’ intention in mentioning these things was not to create a sense of guilt, but to confront the pain in her relationships with men. This would accentuate her thirst for a meaningful relationship with God