John 4:12
New International Version
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

New Living Translation
And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”

English Standard Version
Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

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

Berean Literal Bible
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his livestock?"

King James Bible
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

New King James Version
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

New American Standard Bible
You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?”

NASB 1995
“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”

NASB 1977
“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?”

Legacy Standard Bible
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”

Amplified Bible
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?”

Christian Standard Bible
You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

American Standard Version
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Are you greater than our forefather Jaqob, he who gave us this well, and he drank from it, also his children and his flock? “

Contemporary English Version
Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?"

Douay-Rheims Bible
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

English Revised Version
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You're not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it."

Good News Translation
It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?"

International Standard Version
You're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, along with his sons and his flocks, are you?"

Literal Standard Version
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and himself drank out of it, and his sons, and his livestock?”

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

New American Bible
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”

NET Bible
Surely you're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock."

New Revised Standard Version
Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”

New Heart English Bible
Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"

Webster's Bible Translation
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Weymouth New Testament
Are you greater than our forefather Jacob, who gave us the well, and himself drank from it, as did also his sons and his cattle?"

World English Bible
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”

Young's Literal Translation
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who did give us the well, and himself out of it did drink, and his sons, and his cattle?'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
11“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.…

Cross References
John 4:5
So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

John 4:6
Since Jacob's well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

John 4:13
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

John 4:20
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem."

John 8:53
Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, as did the prophets. Who do You claim to be?"


Treasury of Scripture

Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

John 8:53
Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

Isaiah 53:2,3
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him…

Matthew 12:42
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

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Cattle Children Drank Drink Flocks Forefather Fountain Greater Herds Jacob Livestock Thereof Water
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Cattle Children Drank Drink Flocks Forefather Fountain Greater Herds Jacob Livestock Thereof Water
John 4
1. Jesus talks with a woman of Samaria, and reveals his identity to her.
27. His disciples marvel.
31. He declares to them his zeal for God's glory.
39. Many Samaritans believe on him.
43. He departs into Galilee, and heals the ruler's son that lay sick at Capernaum.














(12) Art thou greater . . .?--Again, the pronoun is the emphatic word, "Thou surely art not greater." "The well used to satisfy the wants of the patriarch, and his household, and his flocks, and has come down from him to us. It is surely sufficient for all our wants." This claim of Jacob as their father was through Ephraim and Joseph, and the well was part of "the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his .son Joseph" (John 4:5). There was abundance of water near to it, but a patriarchal household could not depend for a necessity of life upon neighbours who may be hostile, and Jacob had dug this well in his own purchased plot. It was sacred, then, as the very spot where their asserted ancestor had digged his well and built his altar. There was an unbroken continuity in the history of the place, and it was prized the more because it was not so in the history of the people.

Verse 12. - Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? We observe here the Samaritaness's claim to be a descendant of Ephraim, of Joseph, of Jacob himself who dug the well. By rising up behind the family of Ephraim to the father of Judah as well as of Joseph, the woman claims a kind of kinship with Jesus. The "our" in this case is not a monopoly of the honours of Jacob for herself and her people. Her national pride is softening under the glance of the great Son of David, and she has a growing sense of the claims and dignity of the Person she is addressing, though her thought is couched in words that may be ironical. This was the kind of challenge which our Lord never refused to honour. Just as on other occasions he claimed to be "greater than the temple," and "Lord of the sabbath," and "before Abraham," and "greater than Moses, Solomon," or "Jonas," so here he quietly admits that he is indeed greater than "our father Jacob." The lifelike reality of the scene is evidenced in the alertness and feminine loquacity of the final clause (θρέμματα are "cattle," not "servants," as seen in passages quoted by Meyer from Xenophon, Plato, Josephus, etc.). The nomadic condition of the first fathers of this race is brilliantly touched off by the sentence.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Are
εἶ (ei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

You
σὺ (sy)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

greater than
μείζων (meizōn)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular - Comparative
Strong's 3173: Large, great, in the widest sense.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

father
πατρὸς (patros)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

Jacob,
Ἰακώβ (Iakōb)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2384: Of Hebrew origin; Jacob, the progenitor of the Israelites.

who
ὃς (hos)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

gave
ἔδωκεν (edōken)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1325: To offer, give; I put, place. A prolonged form of a primary verb; to give.

us
ἡμῖν (hēmin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

[this]
τὸ (to)
Article - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

well
φρέαρ (phrear)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5421: A pit, well, cistern. Of uncertain derivation; a hole in the ground, i.e. A cistern or well; figuratively, an abyss.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

drank
ἔπιεν (epien)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4095: To drink, imbibe. A prolonged form of pio, which poo occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses; to imbibe.

from
ἐξ (ex)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

it
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Neuter 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

himself,
αὐτὸς (autos)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

[as did]
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

sons
υἱοὶ (huioi)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5207: A son, descendent. Apparently a primary word; a 'son', used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

livestock?�
θρέμματα (thremmata)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2353: (lit: a nursling, hence probably) plur: cattle. From trepho; stock.


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NT Gospels: John 4:12 Are you greater than our father Jacob (Jhn Jo Jn)
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