In Greek this verse is one long interrogative sentence. Good News Translation makes it a statement followed by a question, Moreover, the question whether Jesus is greater that Jacob is retained in Good News Translation until the last part of the verse, since it is the climactic element in what the woman has to say. The other information conveyed in the verse (that Jacob gave the well, and that he, his sons, and his flocks all drank from it) is background information, forming the basis for the question concerning the relation between Jesus and Jacob.

Our ancestor Jacob is literally “our father Jacob,” but in such a context the reference is clearly to an ancestor rather than to a “father.” The statement that Jacob and his family drank from the well indicates that the water was good, and the observation that his flocks also drank from it indicates that the supply of water was plentiful.

There is an interesting problem of inclusive and exclusive first person plural in the phrase our ancestor. If an inclusive form of “our” is used, it means that the woman acknowledged that she, a Samaritan, and Jesus, a Jew, had a common ancestor in Jacob. If an exclusive form is used, it indicates that the woman emphasized that Jacob was the ancestor of the Samaritans and not of the Jews. The translator is thus forced to interpret the woman’s intentions. From a purely historical point of view it would be important to use the inclusive first person plural, but in terms of this particular context and the way the Samaritan woman sets her own tradition against the Jewish tradition, one could argue for the exclusive first person plural. It would appear that translators are divided as to which form to use in this context. This division does not involve any serious theological problem, but it does highlight matters of emphasis.

It may be important to make a distinction between “drank from it” and “drank water that came from it.” In some languages such a statement as “drank from it” would mean that the water was at surface level and that cattle could drink directly from the well, as from a spring or pool. However, it seems clear that in this context the translation should be “drank water that came from the well,” to indicate that even in ancient times the well was deep (verse 11).

You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you? may more literally be rendered “You are not greater than Jacob, are you?” However, it is clear that the woman is implying that Jesus is claiming to be greater than Jacob, and Good News Translation makes this claim explicit (see also New American Bible “Surely you do not pretend to be greater than our ancestor Jacob…?”). In order to indicate clearly that such a claim is possibly being made by Jesus, one may translate “You do not say that you are greater than Jacob, do you?” or “Is it possible that you think you are greater than Jacob was?”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .