4:12a

Are You greater than our father Jacob: This is the first part of a rhetorical question. It expects a negative answer. It shows surprise and is possibly a rebuke to Jesus. The woman thought that Jesus was not as great as their ancestor Jacob and therefore he could not supply better water.

There are two ways to translate this rhetorical question to express this surprise:

• Use a rhetorical question. For example:

Are you a greater man than our father Jacob…? (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
do you (sing.) think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob…? (New Living Translation (2004))

• Use a statement. For example:

You (sing.) cannot be as great as our (incl.) ancestor Jacob.

Translate this rhetorical question in a way that is the most natural in your language.

greater: In some languages it is not natural to use a comparison. In those languages you will need to imply a comparison in a way that is natural. For example:

Our ancestor Jacob was important/great. You are not important/great.

than our father Jacob: The phrase our father Jacob refers to Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. He lived about two thousand years before this event. Jacob was an ancestor of both the Jews and the Samaritans.

our: This pronoun is inclusive because both the Jews and the Samaritans descended from Jacob.

4:12b

who gave us this well: Jacob gave the well to the people in the sense that he provided it for them. He either dug it or ordered his servants to dig the well. It may be more natural in your language to start a new sentence here. For example:

Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us. (Contemporary English Version)

4:12c

and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?: This phrase indicates that Jacob and his extended family and livestock all drank water from this well.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock (English Standard Version)

This phrase implies that Jacob and his family were satisfied with the well, and that its water was good and plentiful. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed? (New Living Translation (2004))

from it: Jacob and his family drank water from the well, but not directly from the well itself, which was deep. So it may be natural to translate this phrase in a way that makes this clearer. For example:

that is where he and his children ⌊drew water⌋ which they and their livestock drank

his sons: This phrase here refers to Jacob’s family members. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

his family (Contemporary English Version)

his livestock: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as livestock refers to all kinds of tame or farm animals. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

his animals (God’s Word)

General Comment on 4:12a–c

In some languages it may be natural to reorder the information in this verse. For example:

12b Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, 12c and his family and animals got water from it. 12a Are you greater than Jacob? (Contemporary English Version)
-or-

12b It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; 12c he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. 12a You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you? (Good News Translation)

4:13–14

Jesus did not directly answer the woman’s question about who was greater. Instead he implied that his water was better. His water was not like the water that came from the well. People who drank his water would not become thirsty again.

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