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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Yhn C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21
Yhn 4 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53
OET (OET-LV) to_the and women they_were_saying, that We_are_believing no_longer because_of the your speech, because/for we_have_heard ourselves and we_have_known that this is truly the saviour of_the world.
OET (OET-RV) so then they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said, but now that we’ve heard him for ourselves, we can see that he really is the saviour of the world.”
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
The conversation at the well
The people of the town listened to the woman and believed in Jesus. They came to meet him and asked him to stay for a few days. At the end of that time they declared that they now knew for certain that he was the Christ.
They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words;
They said to the woman, “Now we(excl) believe in him not because of what you(sing) told us,
The people from Sychar said to the woman, “Now we(excl) believe in Jesus, not just because you(sing) told us about him,
The people from the town told the woman that it was no longer because of what she said that they believed in Jesus.
They said to the woman: The pronoun They refers to the people of Sychar. In some languages it is more natural to put in this information. For example:
The people of the town of Sychar said to the woman
We now believe not only because of your words: This clause indicates that there was a change in the people’s reason for believing. Before they met Jesus, they believed because of what the woman said. After they met Jesus, they believed because they heard Jesus themselves. In some languages it may be necessary to make it more explicit that their reason for believing had changed. For example:
First we believed in Jesus because of your speech, but now we believe because…. (NCV)
Now we believe, not just because of what you told us…. (NLT)
We now believe: The pronoun We is exclusive here, as the people were contrasting themselves with the woman. However, your translation should not imply that the woman did not believe. She believed, but for a different reason. You may need to make it clear that the woman also believed. For example:
we(excl) also believe
believe: This word includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was, accepting him as the Messiah, and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him. See how you translated this idea in 4:39 and 4:41. Here are other ways of translating this word:
have faith in Jesus (CEV)
trust in him
we have heard for ourselves,
but because we(excl) ourselves heard him.
but also because we(excl) listened to him ourselves.
No, it was because they heard him themselves,
The Greek text begins this clause with a conjunction that is usually translated as “for,” but the BSB leaves it implied. Here, the Greek conjunction indicates the reason why the Samaritans’ belief changed. Here is another way to translate this word:
because (GNT)
we have heard for ourselves: This clause gives the reason why the Samaritans started to believe for a different reason. Earlier, they had believed because of what the woman said. But when they heard Jesus themselves, they had a stronger reason to believe and that made their faith stronger. In some languages it may be necessary to make the object of the verb heard explicit. For example:
We have heard him ourselves (CEV)
We(excl) ourselves have heard what he has said
we: This pronoun is exclusive and in this context refers to the people of the town, but not the woman. The woman had always believed because she heard Jesus herself, so her reason to believe did not need to change.
and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”
And we(excl) now know that he really is the savior/deliverer of the people of the world.”
That convinced us that it is true that he will save people everywhere.”
and they realized that he was truly the one who would save people everywhere.
we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world: This is the most important idea in what the town’s people say. It also forms the climax (most important point) of this section. Try to translate this with emphasis. For example:
we are convinced that he is the Saviour of the world (REB)
we know: The pronoun we continues to be exclusive here. However, the town’s people did not disagree with the woman but agreed strongly with her. They also believed that Jesus was the Messiah (4:29b). So it may be natural to say:
we(excl) now also know
the Savior of the world: This is the only time the title Savior is used of Jesus in the Gospel of John. 1 John 4:14 uses the phrase the Savior of the world, and Luke 1:67 and 2:11 use the title Savior for Jesus. Old Testament verses (for example, 2 Samuel 22:3 and Psalm 106:21) and Luke 1:47 use the title for God.
The title indicates here that Jesus is the one who saves or rescues/delivers people from evil or danger. In the New Testament the emphasis is on saving people from spiritual and eternal danger. That means rescuing people from the spiritual dangers of sin and the punishment from God that results from sinning. See KBT Save, Salvation Savior, C. In some languages it may be natural to translate Savior using a verb form. For example:
the one who will save the people of the world
the one who delivers people everywhere from evil
of the world: The Samaritans used this phrase to say that Jesus is the savior of all groups of people in the world. He was not just the savior of the Jews. They did not mean that Jesus saves every person in the world. See the examples above for other ways to translate this phrase.
Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns
ἔλεγον
˱they˲_˓were˒_saying
Here, they refers to the Samaritans from Sychar. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [the local Samaritans said]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive
πιστεύομεν & ἀκηκόαμεν & οἴδαμεν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: τῇ τέ γυναικί ἔλεγον ὅτι οὐκέτι διά τήν σήν λαλιάν Πιστεύομεν αὐτοί γάρ ἀκηκόαμεν καί οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτος ἐστίν ἀληθῶς ὁ Σωτήρ τοῦ κόσμου)
We throughout this verse refers to the Samaritan townspeople who came to Jesus apart from the Samaritan woman, so the pronoun would be exclusive. Your language may require you to mark this form.
Note 3 topic: writing-pronouns
οὗτός
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: τῇ τέ γυναικί ἔλεγον ὅτι οὐκέτι διά τήν σήν λαλιάν Πιστεύομεν αὐτοί γάρ ἀκηκόαμεν καί οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτος ἐστίν ἀληθῶς ὁ Σωτήρ τοῦ κόσμου)
Here, this one refers to Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [this man, Jesus]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
κόσμου
world
Here, world refers to everyone throughout the world who believes in Jesus. If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [all the believers in the world]
4:42 The Samaritans had experienced for themselves that Jesus was true. Their name for Jesus, Savior of the world (also used in 1 Jn 4:14), demonstrated that the Samaritans were keenly aware of their distance from Judaism. Jesus’ ministry was not simply for Jews, but for all people (John 1:4-12; cp. 12:20-26).
OET (OET-LV) to_the and women they_were_saying, that We_are_believing no_longer because_of the your speech, because/for we_have_heard ourselves and we_have_known that this is truly the saviour of_the world.
OET (OET-RV) so then they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said, but now that we’ve heard him for ourselves, we can see that he really is the saviour of the world.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.