Discovery BoxJohn 4:7-10 
Context4:7 A Samaritan woman 1 came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water 2 to drink.” 4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. 3 ) 4 4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew 5 – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water 6 to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common 7 with Samaritans.) 8
4:10 Jesus answered 9 her, “If you had known 10 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 11 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 12
1 tn Grk “a woman from Samaria.” According to BDAG 912 s.v. Σαμάρεια, the prepositional phrase is to be translated as a simple attributive: “γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας a Samaritan woman J 4:7.”
2 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
3 tn Grk “buy food.”
4 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).
5 tn Or “a Judean.” Here BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαίος 2.a states, “Judean (with respect to birth, nationality, or cult).” The same term occurs in the plural later in this verse. In one sense “Judean” would work very well in the translation here, since the contrast is between residents of the two geographical regions. However, since in the context of this chapter the discussion soon becomes a religious rather than a territorial one (cf. vv. 19-26), the translation “Jew” has been retained here and in v. 22.
6 tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
7 tn D. Daube (“Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: the Meaning of συγχράομαι [Jn 4:7ff],” JBL 69 [1950]: 137-47) suggests this meaning.
sn The background to the statement use nothing in common is the general assumption among Jews that the Samaritans were ritually impure or unclean. Thus a Jew who used a drinking vessel after a Samaritan had touched it would become ceremonially unclean.
8 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
9 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
10 tn Or “if you knew.”
11 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
12 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.
