Paragraph 4:27–30

The disciples returned to the well and were surprised to find Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. The woman then left her water jar at the well and hurried to her town to tell the people there about Jesus. Then the people went to the well to meet Jesus.

4:27a

Just then His disciples returned: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Just then introduces something that happened right away. For example:

At this time the disciples returned ⌊with food⌋
-or-
At that very moment his disciples came back (NET Bible)

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples refers to learners or followers who are in a special relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to follow his teaching and example. Disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went. See how you translated this term in 1:35.

4:27b

were surprised that He was speaking with a woman: The disciples did not expect Jesus to talk to women. Jewish tradition advised men, and especially rabbis, to not to talk to women other than their wives. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as surprised means “astonished” or “amazed.” Here are other ways to translate this clause:

were astonished that he was speaking with a woman (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They were shocked to find him talking to a woman (New Living Translation (2004))

4:27c

But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But introduces something that is not what one expects. The disciples wanted to know why Jesus was talking with the woman, but they did not ask him about it.

no one asked Him: The phrase no one refers to none of the disciples.

What do You want from her?: There are two ways to understand the question What do You want from her? :

(1) It was directed at Jesus and means “Why are you talking with her?” For example:

But none of them asked him, “What do you want from her ?” (God’s Word)

(Berean Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)

(2) It was directed at the woman and means “Why are you speaking with Jesus?” For example:

But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” (Good News Translation)

(Good News Translation)

The King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, NET Bible, New International Version, and New Century Version are ambiguous but more naturally refer to Jesus, which the following question clearly does. Either interpretation is possible. However, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and most Bible scholars.

You: The pronoun You is singular. If you follow interpretation (1), it refers to Jesus.

or: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as or here introduces another question that the disciples did not ask.

Why are You talking with her: The disciples wondered why Jesus was talking with the woman. This probably means about the same thing as the previous question, “What do you want?”

You: The pronoun You is singular and refers to Jesus.

General Comment on 4:27c

In some languages it may be more natural to translate 4:27c as indirect speech, perhaps combining the two questions. For example:

But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
but none of them asked what Jesus wanted and/or what was the reason that he was talking with her

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.