4:10a
If you knew the gift of God: Jesus wanted the woman to know this gift and want it. At this time, she did not even know what Jesus was talking about. In your translation, imply or state explicitly that the woman did not yet know about the gift of God. For example:
If only you knew what God gives (Revised English Bible)
-or-
You don’t know what God wants to give you (Contemporary English Version)
you: This pronoun is singular and refers to the woman.
the gift of God: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the gift of God refers to what God gives freely.
Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
what God gives (Good News Translation)
-or-
what God wants to give you (Contemporary English Version)
4:10b
and who is asking you for a drink: In this clause, Jesus was referring to himself. The woman did not know who Jesus really was, that he was the Messiah of God. She only saw him as a Jewish traveler.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
and who you are speaking to (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
and ⌊who I am, I⌋ who am asking you for a drink
4:10c
you would have asked Him: This is not something that happened. This is what might have happened but did not. It did not happen because the woman did not know the gift of God or who Jesus was. If she knew those things, then she would have asked. Consider how to express a situation like this in a way that is natural in your language. In some languages it may be necessary to say this in the present tense. For example:
you would ask him (Good News Translation)
you: This pronoun is singular and refers to the woman.
Him: This pronoun refers to Jesus. Jesus referred to himself in the third person. In some languages it may be necessary to use the first person here. For example:
you would ask me (Contemporary English Version)
4:10d
and He would have given you living water: This is something that did not happen. It did not happen because the woman did not ask Jesus. But if she had known God’s gift and who Jesus was (things she did not know), then she would have asked Jesus. And if she asked Jesus, he would have given her living water.
However, none of that happened. It could have happened, but it did not. The conditions in 4:10a–c were not fulfilled.
As in 4:10c, you may need to make it explicit that He refers to Jesus himself. For example:
and I would have given you living water
living water: This phrase here means “the water that makes people really live” or “the water that gives life.” For example:
the water that gives life (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
life-giving water (Good News Translation)
General Comment on 4:10a–d
In some languages it is more natural to reorder this information. You might want to indicate that Jesus wanted the woman to know these things and then use an “if” clause as a summary statement. For example:
Jesus said to her, “⌊I wish that⌋ you (sing.) understood what God ⌊wants to freely⌋ give you. ⌊And I wish that⌋ you knew ⌊who I am, I⌋ who ask you for a drink. If you knew those things, you would ask me for a drink. And I would give you the water that gives life.”
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