4 When Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) found out that the Farisaios party knew that he was gaining and immersing more followers than Yohan (John; Grk. Yoannes) had, 2 (although actually it wasn’t Yeshua himself that was immersing them, but his apprentices that were doing it), 3 he left Yehudah (Judea) and went back up to Galil. 4 On the way up, he decided to go through Shomron (Samaria).

5 By choosing that route, they came to a town in Shomron called Sukar, which was near the place that the patriarch Yosef (Joseph) had inherited from his father Ya’akov (Jacob),[ref] 6 and ‘Ya’akov’s well’ was there. Yeshua was tired from all the walking and was sitting by the well around midday.

7 A woman came from the town to get water from the well, and Yeshua asked her for a drink 8 since his followers had gone into the town to buy some lunch.

9 The woman said to him, “You’re a Yehudi (Jew). How come you’re asking me for a drink when I’m from Shomron?” (Yehudim (Jews) don’t normally associate with anyone from Shomron.)[ref]

10 Yeshua answered, “If you’d recognised God’s gift and who it is who’s asking you for a drink, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water to drink.”

11 But the woman countered, “Mister, you don’t even have rope and a bucket to reach the water in the deep well. How then could you get ‘living water’? 12 I doubt that you’re greater than our ancestor Ya’akov (Jacob) who made this well for us and drank this water along with his children and his animals.”

13 Yeshua responded, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but anyone who drinks the water that I give them will find a well springing up inside them—springing into eternal life.”

15 So the woman said, “Okay, then. Give me some of that water so that I won’t get thirsty and won’t have to keep coming out here to the well.”

16 Yeshua said, “First, go and get your husband and then come back here.”

17 “Actually, I don’t have a husband!” she retorted.

“True enough—indeed you don’t,” Yeshua said. 18 “You’ve had five husbands and you’re not married to the man you’re living with, so what you said was true.”

19 “Mister, I can see that you’re a prophet,” the woman reacted. 20 “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Yehudim (Jews) claim that people should only worship there in Yerushalem (Jerusalem).”

21 Then Yeshua told her, “You need to believe that I was sent from God, woman, because a day is coming when everyone will be worshipping him neither on this mountain, nor in Yerushalem. 22 You people in Shomron (Samaria) don’t even know who you worship, but we do, because people will be saved by means of us Yehudim. 23 But a time is coming, starting even now, when the true worshippers will be worshipping the father in spirit and truth, because those are the ones that he is wanting to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and the ones worshipping him must worship in spirit and total honesty.”

25 The woman said, “I’m aware that the messiah is coming—God’s chosen one. Whenever he appears, he’ll teach us everything.”

26 “I am the messiah,” Yeshua responded. “Yes, he’s speaking to you!”

27 After this, his followers arrived back, and they were astounded that he was speaking with a woman. However no one dared ask her, “What are you after?” Or to ask him, “Why are you talking with her?”

28 So the woman left her water jar there, and went back into the town where she told the people, 29 “Come and see a man who knew as much about me as I know myself! He must be the messiah!” 30 So they went out from the town to go and see Yeshua.

31 Meanwhile, Yeshua’s followers encouraged him, “Teacher, here, eat.”

32 But he said, “I’ve had food to eat that you don’t know about.”

33 This made his followers ask each other, “Did you see anyone bring him something to eat?”

34 “Obeying God who sent me is like food to me, and I plan to finish his work,” Yeshua explained. 35 “Don’t you all have a saying about needing to wait four months for a harvest? But I’m telling you that you all should open your eyes and look at the fields, because they’re already lightening up as harvest time approaches. 36 The harvester gets paid with a harvest that will last forever so that the ones who plant and the ones who harvest can all celebrate. 37 There’s truth in the statement that one person plants and a different person harvests. 38 I’ve sent you all out to harvest where you haven’t worked before—others did the groundwork and you benefit from their work.”

39 And many people of Shomron (Samaria) came out of that town and believed that Yeshua is God because the woman had told them that he knew everything about her. 40 So when they all came, they asked him to stay in their town and they stayed on there for a couple of days.

41 As a result of his teaching, many more believed 42 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.”