Jesus Goes to Galilee

1So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been told that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3He left Judea and returned again to Galilee. 4Now [a]He had to go through [b]Samaria. 5So He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (noon).

The Samaritan Woman

7Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”-- 8For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food-- 9The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a [c]Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11She said to Him, “Sir, [d]You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12Are You greater than our father [e]Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”

15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your [f]husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ--the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].” 26Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah).”

27Just then His disciples came, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. However, no one said, “What are You asking about?” or, “Why are You talking to her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?” 30So the people left the city and were coming to Him.

31Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus [to have a meal], saying, “Rabbi (Teacher), eat.” 32But He told them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to completely finish His work. 35Do you not say, ‘It is still four months until the harvest comes?’ Look, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields and see, they are white for harvest. 36Already the reaper is receiving his wages and he is gathering fruit for eternal life; so that he who plants and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37For in this case the saying is true, ‘One [person] sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap [a crop] for which you have not worked. Others have worked and you have been privileged to reap the results of their work.”

The Samaritans

39Now many Samaritans from that city believed in Him and trusted Him [as Savior] because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked Him to remain with them; and He stayed there two days. 41Many more believed in Him [with a deep, abiding trust] because of His word [His personal message to them]; 42and they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; for [now] we have heard Him for ourselves and know [with confident assurance] that this One is truly the Savior of [all] the world.”

43After the two days He went on from there into Galilee. 44For Jesus Himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45So when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans [g]welcomed Him, since they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they too came to the feast.

Healing a Nobleman’s Son

46So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a [h]certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum. 47Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he [i]went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you [people] see [miraculous] signs and wonders, you [simply] will not believe.” 49The royal official pleaded with Him, “Sir, do come down [at once] before my child dies!” 50Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives!” The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home. 51As he was already going down [the road], his servants met him and reported that his son was living [and was healthy]. 52So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour (1 p.m.) the fever left him.” 53Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives”; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior]. 54This is the second sign (attesting miracle) that Jesus performed [in Cana] after He had come from Judea to Galilee [revealing that He is the Messiah].

[a] 4 Jesus went through Samaria to show that He is the Savior of all people.
[b] 4 Samaria was centrally located between Judea (south) and Galilee (north). The Jews despised Samaritans because they were Jews who had intermarried with non-Jews and followed a heretical religion. Most Jews traveled out of their way to avoid Samaria.
[c] 9 The Jews considered Samaritan women ceremonially unclean.
[d] 11 The woman’s response is due to the fact that “living water” was the normal description for running water. She probably thought that Jesus was referring to the underground water source that fed the well.
[e] 12 Jacob (renamed Israel in Gen 32:28) was the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham and father of the twelve sons who established the twelve tribes of Israel.
[f] 18 God does not regard cohabitation as marriage. Marriage is a binding, legal covenant between a man and a woman.
[g] 45 In view of John’s wording in v 44 (For Jesus Himself declared...), the Galileans evidently were very interested in His miracles, but did not recognize or regard Jesus as their source of salvation.
[h] 46 Probably an official of Herod Antipas.
[i] 47 Capernaum to Cana was about eighteen miles.