Discovery BoxJohn 4:10 
Context4:10 Jesus answered 1 her, “If you had known 2 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 3 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 4
John 4:27
Context4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. 5 They were shocked 6 because he was speaking 7 with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” 8 or “Why are you speaking with her?”
1 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
2 tn Or “if you knew.”
3 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
4 tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.
sn The word translated living is used in Greek of flowing water, which leads to the woman’s misunderstanding in the following verse. She thought Jesus was referring to some unknown source of drinkable water.
5 tn Or “his disciples returned”; Grk “came” (“back” is supplied in keeping with English usage). Because of the length of the Greek sentence it is better to divide here and begin a new English sentence, leaving the καί (kai) before ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon) untranslated.
6 tn BDAG 444 s.v. θαυμάζω 1.a.γ has “be surprised that” followed by indirect discourse. The context calls for a slightly stronger wording.
7 tn The ὅτι (Joti) could also be translated as declarative (“that he had been speaking with a woman”) but since this would probably require translating the imperfect verb as a past perfect (which is normal after a declarative ὅτι), it is preferable to take this ὅτι as causal.
8 tn Grk “seek.” See John 4:23.
sn The question “What do you want?” is John’s editorial comment (for no one in the text was asking it). The author is making a literary link with Jesus’ statement in v. 23: It is evident that, in spite of what the disciples may have been thinking, what Jesus was seeking is what the Father was seeking, that is to say, someone to worship him.
