1
Ὡς οὖν ἔγνω ὁ ⸀Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἤκουσαν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ὅτι Ἰησοῦς πλείονας μαθητὰς ποιεῖ καὶ βαπτίζει ἢ Ἰωάννης—
When therefore Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptising more disciples than John —
Layered knowing — Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard.
first here Jesus Ἰησοῦς Iēsous
first here Pharisee Φαρισαῖος Pharisaios
first here John Ἰωάννης Iōannēs
pronoun he = Jesus
2
καίτοιγε Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν ἀλλ’ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ—
although Jesus himself was not baptising, but his disciples were —
The writer breaks in to correct the line before. He does this elsewhere too (2:21).
pronoun his = Jesus
3
ἀφῆκεν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ⸀πάλιν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν.
he left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
Again — back to the Galilee of 1:43 and 2:1.
first here Judea Ἰουδαία Ioudaia
first here Galileans Γαλιλαία Galilaia
pronoun he = Jesus
4
ἔδει δὲ αὐτὸν διέρχεσθαι διὰ τῆς Σαμαρείας.
And he had to pass through Samaria.
Had to is a word this book uses with weight — the same one behind “must be lifted up” at 3:14.
first here Samaria Σαμάρεια Samareia
outside the text Samaria lies between Galilee and Judea. There was also a road round by the east of the Jordan, so “had to” is not only about geography.
pronoun he = Jesus
5
ἔρχεται οὖν εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας λεγομένην Συχὰρ πλησίον τοῦ χωρίου ὃ ἔδωκεν Ἰακὼβ ⸀τῷ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ·
So he comes to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph his son.
Jacob and Joseph fix the ground.
first here Sychar Συχάρ Sychar
first here Jacob Ἰακώβ Iakōb
first here Joseph Ἰωσήφ Iōsēph
outside the text Genesis 33:19 and 48:22 — the plot Jacob bought near Shechem and gave to Joseph.
pronoun his = Jacob
6
ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ πηγὴ τοῦ Ἰακώβ. ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ· ὥρα ἦν ⸀ὡς ἕκτη.
And Jacob’s spring was there. Jesus therefore, worn out from the journey, was sitting just so at the spring. It was about the sixth hour.
Verse 6 says spring (πηγή, pēgē); verses 11 and 12 say well (φρέαρ, phrear). The Greek uses two words. The sixth hour counts from sunrise, so about midday.
Why this rendering
John.4.6 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
Two words name the same well. The narrator uses πηγή twice in v.6 and Jesus uses πηγή in v.14. The woman uses φρέαρ in vv.11 and 12. The φρέαρ of v.12 is what “Jacob gave us”, so it is the πηγὴ τοῦ Ἰακώβ of v.6 — the same object. The two words have different roots. The verse closes with ὥρα ἦν ὡς ἕκτη, the clock use, not the ἡ ὥρα μου of 2:4. Both uses occur in this chapter — vv.6, 52 and 53 read a clock, while vv.21 and 23 have ἔρχεται ὥρα. SBLGNT marks a variant (⸀) at ὡς.
Rendering options · 2
Jacob's well … the well is deep
Basis Collapses both into one word.
Rejected The woman's word and Jesus' word become one. Her “it is deep” then reads as a flat statement of fact, and the move by which Jesus takes πηγή back up in v.14 disappears.
Adopted There was Jacob's spring there … (v.11) the well is deep
Basis πηγή is water that rises; φρέαρ is a shaft dug down. Keeping them apart leaves in the text the mismatch between the woman speaking of a dug well and Jesus of a rising spring. The Vulgate already does this with fontem / puteus, Elberfelder with Quelle / Brunnen.
Lost in translation
the πηγή / φρέαρ distinction One object, two words, and the word changes with who is speaking. Most versions render both as “well” and the alternation goes. Ten of the twenty-six use different words at v.6 and v.11 — the Vulgate, the Church Slavonic 1900, the Coptic, the Peshitta, the Armenian, the Elberfelder, Taishō 1917, Reina-Valera 1909, the Brazilian 1917 and Darby 1885.
Survives in · Vulgata Clementina / Elberfelder 1871 / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
7
Ἔρχεται γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας ἀντλῆσαι ὕδωρ. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Δός μοι πεῖν·
A woman of Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus says to her, “Give me a drink.”
He asks a drink of the one who came to draw. Who gives and who asks is reversed at verse 10.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
8
οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα τροφὰς ἀγοράσωσιν.
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy sustenance.
The disciples are moved off stage, leaving two. They return at verse 27.
pronoun his = Jesus
9
λέγει οὖν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ Σαμαρῖτις· Πῶς σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὢν παρ’ ἐμοῦ πεῖν αἰτεῖς ⸂γυναικὸς Σαμαρίτιδος οὔσης⸃; οὐ γὰρ συγχρῶνται Ἰουδαῖοι Σαμαρίταις.
The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews do not use vessels together with Samaritans.
Use vessels together renders a compound of “with” and “use” — it says both that they do not associate and that they do not share dishes.
first here Samaritan Σαμαρῖτις Samaritis
first here Jews Ἰουδαῖος Ioudaios
first here Samaritan Σαμαρίτης Samaritēs
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun you = Jesus
Why this rendering
John.4.9 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
συγχρῶνται is συγχράομαι and occurs only here in John. It is σύν, together, joined to χράομαι, to use. The sentence just before it is a request for a drink, and drinking requires sharing a vessel. SBLGNT marks a variant (⸂ ⸃) at γυναικὸς Σαμαρίτιδος οὔσης.
Rendering options · 2
for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans
Basis Widens the compound to social association in general.
Rejected The “use” in χράομαι disappears. The preceding sentence asks for a vessel, so the narrower reading meshes with the scene. The wider rendering turns her question into “why speak with me at all” and blurs the concrete problem of the cup.
Adopted for Jews do not use vessels together with Samaritans
Basis Keeps “use together” from σύν + χράομαι so that it matches the scene. NET reads it as “use nothing in common”, the Vulgate as coutuntur.
Lost in translation
the “use” in σύν + χράομαι The second half of the compound is “use”, but most versions render it as association in general. The concrete vessel then drops out of the sentence. Three keep “use together” — NET, the Vulgate and the Peshitta (ܡܬܚܫܚܝܢ, from the root ܚܫܚ, *to use*).
Survives in · New English Translation† / Vulgata Clementina / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
10
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι· Δός μοι πεῖν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Living water is the ordinary phrase for running water, and it opens a second layer at the same time. She hears the first in verse 11 — the same device as chapter 3.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
Why this rendering
John.4.10 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
ὕδωρ ζῶν is a noun with a present participle. ζάω occurs five times in this chapter (vv.10, 11, 50, 51, 53), and the last three mean that the official's son is alive. The woman's reply shows how she heard the phrase: at v.11 she answers that he has no bucket and the φρέαρ is deep. She is thinking of water to be drawn up. The misunderstanding is written into the text, not inferred by a translator.
Rendering options · 2
living water
Basis Uses the settled rendering.
Rejected In Korean 생수 has settled into a commercial name for drinking water and carries neither sense. ὕδωρ ζῶν also names water that runs rather than stands, which is why the woman can answer as she does at v.11; without that layer her reply looks like a non sequitur.
Adopted living water
Basis Renders the participle of ζάω plainly so that it stays the same word used from v.50 on, where the son is alive. The layer of running water cannot be carried and is recorded below.
Lost in translation
the two layers of ὕδωρ ζῶν The Greek phrase holds both “running water” and “water that gives life”, and the dialogue turns on the pair. English can carry only one, so it is not visible why v.11 answers as it does. No version escapes this.
Survives in · this edition — 2 of the nine carry it (not this language)
ζάω across the chapter The living water of vv.10–11 and the boy who lives at vv.50, 51 and 53 are the same verb. Fixing the first as a set phrase hides the echo at the end of the chapter.
Survives in · Young's Literal 1898 / Vulgata Clementina / 新共同訳聖書 (1987)† / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
11
λέγει αὐτῷ ⸂ἡ γυνή⸃· Κύριε, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις καὶ τὸ φρέαρ ἐστὶν βαθύ· πόθεν οὖν ἔχεις τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ζῶν;
The woman says to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?
She answers from what can be seen — “you have nothing to draw with”.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun you = Jesus
12
μὴ σὺ μείζων εἶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακώβ, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸ φρέαρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιεν καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ;
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his livestock?”
Our father Jacob — the Samaritans claim him as forefather too.
pronoun you = Jesus
pronoun who = Jacob
pronoun his = Jacob
13
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν·
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone drinking of this water will thirst again;
This water is set against “the water that I will give” in verse 14.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
14
ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ ⸀διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ δώσω αὐτῷ γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst to the age. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up to life eternal.”
Spring here is the same word as in verse 6. He uses it beside Jacob's spring.
pronoun him = whoever drinks
15
λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἵνα μὴ διψῶ μηδὲ ⸀διέρχωμαι ἐνθάδε ἀντλεῖν.
The woman says toward him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not thirst nor come here to draw.”
She is still hearing it as the labour of drawing.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun me = the Samaritan woman
16
Λέγει ⸀αὐτῇ· Ὕπαγε φώνησον ⸂τὸν ἄνδρα σου⸃ καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐνθάδε.
He says to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”
The question turns to the husband without warning. No reason is given.
pronoun He = Jesus
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
pronoun your = the Samaritan woman
17
ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν ⸀αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι Ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω·
The woman answered and said to him, “I have no husband.” Jesus says to her, “You have spoken well in saying, I have no husband;
You have spoken well — he takes her words up rather than correcting them.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
18
πέντε γὰρ ἄνδρας ἔσχες, καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις οὐκ ἔστιν σου ἀνήρ· τοῦτο ἀληθὲς εἴρηκας.
for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
The text counts five and says no more. There is no reproach here.
pronoun you = the Samaritan woman
19
λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, θεωρῶ ὅτι προφήτης εἶ σύ.
The woman says to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
She names him for the first time — a prophet.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun you = Jesus
20
οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν· καὶ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐστὶν ὁ τόπος ὅπου ⸂προσκυνεῖν δεῖ⸃.
Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”
This mountain is the one in sight from where she stands.
outside the text Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans had their temple there.
pronoun you = Jesus and the Jews
21
λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ⸂Πίστευέ μοι, γύναι⸃, ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα ὅτε οὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις προσκυνήσετε τῷ πατρί.
Jesus says to her, “Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Woman is the same address used to his mother at 2:4 — it is not curt.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
pronoun you = the Samaritans
22
ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε, ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν, ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν·
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
What is neuter both times — a thing worshipped, not a person named.
23
ἀλλὰ ἔρχεται ὥρα καὶ νῦν ἐστιν, ὅτε οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταὶ προσκυνήσουσιν τῷ πατρὶ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τοιούτους ζητεῖ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν·
But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such as these to worship him.
Is coming, and now is — what is to come and what has come stand in one sentence.
24
πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.
God is spirit, and those worshipping him must worship in spirit and truth.”
God is spirit has no article on the predicate — the same construction as 1:1, “what God was, the Word was”.
pronoun him = God
Why this rendering
John.4.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
πνεῦμα ὁ θεός has no verb. The predicate πνεῦμα is anarthrous and the subject ὁ θεός carries the article. This is the construction of 1:1c, θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος — anarthrous predicate first, articular subject after. How to treat it was settled in chapter 1 (GLOSSARY, “anarthrous predicate nominative”), and that decision applies here unchanged. προσκυνέω runs five times from v.20 to v.24, twice in this verse alone.
Rendering options · 2
God is a Spirit
Basis Takes the anarthrous predicate as indefinite — “a Spirit.”
Rejected This was already set aside at 1:1c. Reading the anarthrous predicate as indefinite makes God one spirit among others, turning a statement of quality into a statement of class. The Chinese Union Version prints 神是個靈 and adds the note 或無個字, marking on its own that a single article is at stake.
Adopted God is spirit, and those worshipping him must worship in spirit and truth.
Basis Same construction as 1:1c, so GLOSSARY's qualitative reading applies — neither an indefinite nor a definite article is supplied. The following ἐν πνεύματι is the same word and takes the same rendering.
Lost in translation
the anarthrous predicate nominative English can leave the article off — God is spirit, not a spirit — and so it marks here what it also marked at 1:1c. What it cannot show is that the omission is itself the mark: nothing on the page tells the reader a choice was made. That the Union Version flags the spot with the note 或無個字 shows how sharp the difficulty grows where there is no article to leave off.
Survives in · Sahidic Coptic / Delitzsch Hebrew NT (1877) / Salkinson-Ginsburg 1885 / this edition — 5 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
πνεῦμα repeated The predicate πνεῦμα and ἐν πνεύματι are one word. Splitting them breaks the link. 개역한글 renders the second as 신령과 진정 and so makes them two.
Survives in · New American Standard (1995)† / English Standard Version† / New English Translation† / Vulgata Clementina / Синодальный перевод / 新共同訳聖書 (1987)† / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
25
λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· Οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται, ὁ λεγόμενος χριστός· ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν ⸀ἅπαντα.
The woman says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, the one called Christ. When he comes, he will announce all things to us.”
The writer sets Messiah and Christ side by side, as at 1:41.
first here Messiah Μεσσίας Messias
first here Christ Χριστός Christos
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun he = Messiah
pronoun us = the Samaritans
26
λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ λαλῶν σοι.
Jesus says to her, “I am — the one speaking to you.”
I am stands with no predicate (ἐγώ εἰμι, egō eimi). This book returns to it — 8:58 and 18:5.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
Why this rendering
John.4.26 Observation
Syntactic observation
Nothing follows Ἐγώ εἰμι as a predicate. The phrase after it, ὁ λαλῶν σοι, is an articular participle standing in apposition to Ἐγώ. So it reads “I am — the one speaking to you”, not “I am he.” There is no word for “he” in the Greek. This is the first place in John where Ἐγώ εἰμι stands without a predicate.
Rendering options · 2
I who speak to you am he
Basis Rearranges the clause and supplies “he” so that it answers about the Messiah.
Rejected It supplies a pronoun the text does not have. In Greek the clause breaks after Ἐγώ εἰμι and the participle follows; rearranging removes that break and severs the link to the bare Ἐγώ εἰμι that recurs later in John.
Adopted Jesus says to her, “I am — the one speaking to you.”
Basis Leaves the break unfilled. The Vulgate already does this with Ego sum, qui loquor tecum.
Lost in translation
the bare Ἐγώ εἰμι Most versions supply “he” and fill the predicate. The line then reads as ordinary self-identification and no longer connects to the same phrase as John repeats it later. Two leave the predicate empty — the Vulgate and the Church Slavonic 1900 (а҆́зъ є҆́смь, гл҃ѧй съ тобо́ю).
Survives in · Vulgata Clementina / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
27
Καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἦλθαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ⸀ἐθαύμαζον ὅτι μετὰ γυναικὸς ἐλάλει· οὐδεὶς μέντοι εἶπεν· Τί ζητεῖς; ἢ τί λαλεῖς μετ’ αὐτῆς;
And upon this his disciples came, and they were marvelling that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you seeking?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?”
What astonishes them is not that she is a Samaritan but that she is a woman.
pronoun his = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
28
ἀφῆκεν οὖν τὴν ὑδρίαν αὐτῆς ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ λέγει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις·
So the woman left her water jar and went away into the city, and says to the people,
She leaves the water jar. The errand she came on breaks off here.
pronoun her = the Samaritan woman
29
Δεῦτε ἴδετε ἄνθρωπον ὃς εἶπέ μοι πάντα ⸀ὅσα ἐποίησα· μήτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ χριστός;
“Come, see a man who told me everything I have done. Can this be the Christ?”
Can this be is framed to expect “no”. She does not assert it.
pronoun me = the Samaritan woman
30
ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτόν.
They went out of the city and were coming toward him.
Set in the imperfect — they are still on the way. They arrive at verse 40.
pronoun They = the people of the city
pronoun him = Jesus
31
⸀Ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· Ῥαββί, φάγε.
In the meantime the disciples were asking him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
Rabbi is the address Nicodemus used at 3:2.
pronoun him = Jesus
32
ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐγὼ βρῶσιν ἔχω φαγεῖν ἣν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε.
But he said to them, “I have nourishment to eat that you do not know of.”
He takes the word and shifts the layer, as he did with water.
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun them = the disciples
pronoun you = the disciples
33
ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους· Μή τις ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν;
So the disciples were saying to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
The disciples hear it plainly too, standing where the woman stood.
pronoun him = Jesus
34
λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν ἵνα ⸀ποιήσω τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με καὶ τελειώσω αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔργον.
Jesus says to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work.
Complete shares its root with “It is completed” at 19:30.
pronoun them = the disciples
pronoun his = the one who sent me
35
οὐχ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι Ἔτι τετράμηνός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ θερισμὸς ἔρχεται; ἰδοὺ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐπάρατε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ θεάσασθε τὰς χώρας ὅτι λευκαί εἰσιν πρὸς θερισμόν· ἤδη
Do you not say, ‘Four months more and the harvest comes’? Look, I say to you, lift up your eyes and see the fields — they are white for harvest already.
White names the colour of a ripe field.
pronoun you = the disciples
36
⸀ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ συνάγει καρπὸν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ⸀ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων.
The one reaping receives wages and gathers fruit for life eternal, so that the one sowing and the one reaping may rejoice together.
Sower and reaper rejoice together — even though verse 37 sets them apart.
37
ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ⸀ἐστὶν ἀληθινὸς ὅτι Ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων·
For in this the saying is true, that one sows and another reaps.
Saying here is the word for a proverb.
38
ἐγὼ ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς θερίζειν ὃ οὐχ ὑμεῖς κεκοπιάκατε· ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασιν, καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε.
I sent you to reap what you have not laboured for; others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”
Others have laboured — the text does not say who.
pronoun you = the disciples
pronoun their = others
39
Ἐκ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν Σαμαριτῶν διὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς γυναικὸς μαρτυρούσης ὅτι Εἶπέν μοι πάντα ⸀ἃ ἐποίησα.
And many of the Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who bore witness, “He told me everything I have done.”
The first step of belief comes through the woman's word.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun me = the Samaritan woman
40
ὡς οὖν ἦλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ Σαμαρῖται, ἠρώτων αὐτὸν μεῖναι παρ’ αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἔμεινεν ἐκεῖ δύο ἡμέρας.
So when the Samaritans came toward him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
What they ask is not healing but that he stay.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun they = the Samaritans
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun them = the Samaritans
41
καὶ πολλῷ πλείους ἐπίστευσαν διὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ,
And many more believed because of his word,
His word is set against the woman's word of verse 39.
pronoun his = Jesus
42
τῇ τε γυναικὶ ἔλεγον ὅτι Οὐκέτι διὰ τὴν σὴν λαλιὰν πιστεύομεν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκηκόαμεν, καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ ⸀κόσμου.
and they said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your speaking that we believe; for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”
We ourselves have heard — the ground of belief moves.
pronoun they = the Samaritans
pronoun your = the Samaritan woman
pronoun this = Jesus
43
Μετὰ δὲ τὰς δύο ἡμέρας ἐξῆλθεν ⸀ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν·
And after the two days he went out from there into Galilee.
The journey begun at verse 3 ends here.
pronoun he = Jesus
44
αὐτὸς ⸀γὰρ Ἰησοῦς ἐμαρτύρησεν ὅτι προφήτης ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ πατρίδι τιμὴν οὐκ ἔχει.
For Jesus himself bore witness that a prophet has no honour in his own hometown.
This book never says where Jesus was from, so “his own homeland” is left open by the text itself.
45
ὅτε οὖν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, ἐδέξαντο αὐτὸν οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι, πάντα ἑωρακότες ⸀ὅσα ἐποίησεν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, καὶ αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν.
So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
Having seen all he did points back to 2:23.
first here Galileans Γαλιλαῖος Galilaios
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun they = the Galileans
46
Ἦλθεν οὖν ⸀πάλιν εἰς τὴν Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ὅπου ἐποίησεν τὸ ὕδωρ οἶνον. καὶ ἦν τις βασιλικὸς οὗ ὁ υἱὸς ἠσθένει ἐν Καφαρναούμ.
So he came again to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
Royal official (βασιλικός, basilikos) names a man attached to a king. It is not a centurion.
first here Cana Κανά Kana
first here Capernaum Καφαρναούμ Kapharnaoum
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun whose = the royal official
47
οὗτος ἀκούσας ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἥκει ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ⸀ἠρώτα ἵνα καταβῇ καὶ ἰάσηται αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱόν, ἤμελλεν γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκειν.
This man, hearing that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, went away to him and was asking that he come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.
One goes down to Capernaum, as at 2:12.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus — the second “he” is the son
pronoun his = the royal official
48
εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐὰν μὴ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἴδητε, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσητε.
So Jesus said toward him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
You is plural, though he is speaking to one man.
pronoun him = the royal official
pronoun you = the people generally
49
λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλικός· Κύριε, κατάβηθι πρὶν ἀποθανεῖν τὸ παιδίον μου.
The royal official says toward him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
The father says my child, not “my son” — a different word from verse 46.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun my = the royal official
50
λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Πορεύου· ὁ υἱός σου ζῇ. ⸀ἐπίστευσεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ λόγῳ ⸀ὃν εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἐπορεύετο.
Jesus says to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus said to him, and he was going.
Lives is repeated three times in this account (50, 51, 53).
pronoun him = the royal official
pronoun your = the royal official
pronoun he = the royal official
51
ἤδη δὲ αὐτοῦ καταβαίνοντος οἱ δοῦλοι αὐτοῦ ⸀ὑπήντησαν ⸀αὐτῷ λέγοντες ὅτι ὁ παῖς ⸀αὐτοῦ ζῇ.
And as he was already going down, his servants met him, saying that his boy lives.
The servants bring back the same word.
pronoun he = the royal official
pronoun his = the royal official
pronoun him = the royal official
52
ἐπύθετο οὖν ⸂τὴν ὥραν παρ’ αὐτῶν⸃ ἐν ᾗ κομψότερον ἔσχεν· ⸂εἶπαν οὖν⸃ αὐτῷ ὅτι ⸀Ἐχθὲς ὥραν ἑβδόμην ἀφῆκεν αὐτὸν ὁ πυρετός.
So he inquired of them the hour at which he had begun to mend. They said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
The seventh hour is counted as the sixth hour was in verse 6.
pronoun he = the royal official
pronoun them = the servants
pronoun him = the boy
53
ἔγνω οὖν ὁ πατὴρ ⸀ὅτι ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐν ᾗ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ⸀Ἰησοῦς· Ὁ υἱός σου ζῇ, καὶ ἐπίστευσεν αὐτὸς καὶ ἡ οἰκία αὐτοῦ ὅλη.
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
The sign is confirmed by the hours matching.
pronoun him = the royal official
pronoun he = the father
54
τοῦτο ⸀δὲ πάλιν δεύτερον σημεῖον ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλθὼν ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν.
This again was a second sign that Jesus did, having come from Judea into Galilee.
A second sign — set beside the first at 2:11. Both are at Cana of Galilee.