John 4:1-13

1Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John.

2(Actually, Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were.)

3So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

4Jesus had to go through Samaria.

5He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

6Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about noon.

7A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.”

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

9The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)

10Jesus replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”

11The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water?

12You’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.”

13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again.