Section 4:1–42

Jesus spoke with a woman from Samaria

In this section Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman who had come to get water from a well. Jesus asked her for a drink of water. The woman was surprised that he spoke to her. Jesus was a Jew, and most Jewish people hated the Samaritans. But Jesus stayed and talked with the woman.

Jesus told the woman that he could give her living water, and he told her that he was the Messiah. The women went back to her town and brought many of the other Samaritan people to Jesus.

It is good to translate the section before giving it a title. Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus brought good news to the hated Samaritan people
-or-
The conversation at the well

Paragraph 4:1–3

These verses tell the background to the story of Jesus’ conversation with a woman at a well. The Pharisees knew that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more people than John, and they were jealous because he was popular. So Jesus decided to leave Judea and travel north through Samaria back to Galilee.