Jesus Begins His Ministry

12 Now when he heard that ⁿJohn had been arrested, ^ohe withdrew into Galilee.

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^bbaptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed ^cagain for Galilee.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 ^oAnd Jesus returned ^pin the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and ^qa report about him went out through all the surrounding country.

4 ^dAnd he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^ethat Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, ^fwearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.¹

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^f“Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (^gFor Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ^hliving water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 ⁱAre you greater than our father Jacob? ^jHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but ^kwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^lwill never be thirsty again.² The water that I will give him will become ^min him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, ⁿgive me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, ^ocall your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^pyou are ^qa prophet. 20 ^rOur fathers worshiped on ^sthis mountain, but you say that ^tin Jerusalem is ^uthe place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, ^v“Woman, believe me, ^wthe hour is coming when ^xneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 ^yYou worship what you do not know; ^zwe worship what we know, for ^zsalvation is ^afrom the Jews. 23 But ^bthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^cin spirit and ^dtruth, for the Father ^eis seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that ^fMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^ghe will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, ^h“I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then ⁱhis disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man ^jwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ^k“Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, ^l“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, ^m“My food is ⁿto do the will of him who sent me and ^oto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^pthe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^qsower and ^rreaper ^smay rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ^t‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap ^uthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^vand you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans ^wfrom that town believed in him ^xbecause of ^ythe woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed ^zbecause of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, ^aand we know that this is indeed ^bthe Savior ^cof the world.”