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Gospel of John

John 4

Living Water

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Before you Read

John 4 takes us from a quiet conversation at a well in Samaria to a growing recognition of who Jesus is. He speaks with a Samaritan woman about living water, true worship, and the Messiah she has been waiting for. As you read, notice how Jesus crosses social and religious boundaries, sees the woman fully, and offers her something deeper than the water she came to draw.

John Chapter 4Barry Hays
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Read John 4

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman


1 When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John


2 (although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples),


3 He left Judea and returned to Galilee.


4 Now He had to pass through Samaria.


5 So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.


6 Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.


7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”


8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)


9 “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)


10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”


11 “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?


12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”


13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.


14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”


15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”


16 Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”


17 “I have no husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband.


18 In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”


19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet.


20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”


21 “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.


22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.


23 But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.


24 God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”


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


26 Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”



The Disciples Return and Marvel


27 Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?”


28 Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people,


29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”


30 So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.


31 Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”


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


33 So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”


34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.


35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.


36 Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.


37 For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.


38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”



Many Samaritans Believe


39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”


40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.


41 And many more believed because of His message.


42 They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”



Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

(Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:1–10)


43 After two days, Jesus left for Galilee.


44 Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.


45 Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone there as well.


46 So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.


47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.


48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”


49 “Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.”


50 “Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and departed.


51 And while he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.


52 So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”


53 Then the father realized that this was the very hour in which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and all his household believed.


54 This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.




Footnotes:
4:1 Literally When therefore Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus; NE, WH, BYZ, and TR When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
4:6 That is, about noon
4:9 Tischendorf does not include this sentence.
4:35 Literally white
4:52 That is, one in the afternoon

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A Word Worth Knowing 

Living Water — ὕδωρ ζῶν (Hydōr Zōn)


The Greek phrase hydōr zōn means “living water.” In everyday use, it could refer to fresh, flowing water rather than water collected in a cistern. Jesus uses the phrase when He speaks with the Samaritan woman at the well.


At first, she understands Him literally and wonders how He could provide water without even having a bucket. Jesus is pointing to something deeper—a life from God that satisfies the thirst beneath the surface.


Throughout John 4, the conversation moves from physical water to spiritual need, worship, and the identity of the Messiah. Jesus is showing that what He gives reaches places ordinary water never can.


So when Jesus offers living water, He is offering more than temporary relief. He is inviting the woman—and us—to receive the life that only God can give.

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Look for This as You Read

Jesus crossing social and religious boundaries.


The meaning of living water.


What Jesus reveals about true worship.


How the woman’s understanding of Jesus grows.


The response of the Samaritan community.

Take This With You

Reflection:


What does Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman show you about the way He sees people and meets them where they are?

     Step Into Their World

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A Samaritan woman at a well was an unexpected conversation

John 4 takes place in Samaria, a region with a long history of tension between Jews and Samaritans. The two groups shared ancient roots, but they disagreed over worship, sacred places, and religious identity. That history makes Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well especially significant.


There was another social boundary too. A Jewish man speaking publicly and at length with a Samaritan woman would have stood out. Yet Jesus does not avoid her, dismiss her, or treat her as someone outside God’s concern.


The setting at the well also matters. Wells were ordinary places where people came for water, but in Israel’s Scriptures they were sometimes the setting for important encounters and new beginnings.


So when Jesus asks this woman for a drink and then offers her “living water,” John is showing us more than a conversation beside a well. Jesus is crossing boundaries, revealing what He knows about her life, and inviting someone others might overlook into a deeper understanding of who He is.

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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) printed 2016, 2020, 2022, 2025 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible.  Produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, unfoldingWord,  Bible Aquifer, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation  Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public  domain. Free downloads and unlimited usage available. See also the Berean Literal Bible and Berean Interlinear Bible.

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