John 4:11

“Sir,” ¹  the woman ²  said to him, “you have no bucket and the well ³  is deep; where then do you get this ⁴  living water? ⁵ 

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

She *said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?

"But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water?

The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'?

The woman said to him, Sir, you have no vessel and the fountain is deep; from where will you get the living water?

The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

“Sir,” ¹  the woman ²  said to him, “you have no bucket and the well ³  is deep; where then do you get this ⁴  living water? ⁵ 

¹ tn Or “Lord.” The Greek term κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage there is probably a gradual transition from one to the other as the woman’s respect for Jesus grows throughout the conversation (4:11, 15, 19).

² tc ‡ Two early and important Greek mss along with two versional witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ B sy^s ac²) lack ἡ γυνή (Jh gunh, “the woman”) here; א* has ἐκείνη (ekeinh, “that one” or possibly “she”) instead of ἡ γυνή. It is possible that no explicit subject was in the original text and scribes added either ἡ γυνή or ἐκείνη to make the meaning clear. It is also possible that the archetype of Ì⁷⁵ א B expunged the subject because it was not altogether necessary, with the scribe of א later adding the pronoun. However, ἡ γυνή is not in doubt in any other introduction to the woman’s words in this chapter (cf. vv. 9, 15, 17, 19, 25), suggesting that intentional deletion was not the motive for the shorter reading in v. 11 (or else why would they delete the words only here?). Thus, the fact that virtually all witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א² A C D L W^s Θ Ψ 050 083 086 Ë^1,13 Ï latt sy^c,p,h sa bo) have ἡ γυνή here may suggest that it is a motivated reading, conforming this verse to the rest of the pericope. Although a decision is difficult, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has ἡ γυνή in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity. For English stylistic reasons, the translation also includes “the woman” here.

³ tn The word for “well” has now shifted to φρέαρ (frear, “cistern”); earlier in the passage it was πηγή (phgh).

⁴ tn The anaphoric article has been translated “this.”

⁵ sn Where then do you get this living water? The woman’s reply is an example of the “misunderstood statement,” a technique appearing frequently in John’s Gospel. Jesus was speaking of living water which was spiritual (ultimately a Johannine figure for the Holy Spirit, see John 7:38-39), but the woman thought he was speaking of flowing (fresh drinkable) water. Her misunderstanding gave Jesus the opportunity to explain what he really meant.