John 4:5

4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town ¹  called Sychar, ²  near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ³ 

John 4:12

4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor ⁴  Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” ⁵ 

---

¹ tn Grk “town of Samaria.” The noun Σαμαρείας (Samareias) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

² sn Sychar was somewhere in the vicinity of Shechem, possibly the village of Askar, 1.5 km northeast of Jacob’s well.

³ sn Perhaps referred to in Gen 48:22.

⁴ tn Or “our forefather”; Grk “our father.”

⁵ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end. In this instance all of v. 12 is one question. It has been broken into two sentences for the sake of English style (instead of “for he” the Greek reads “who”).