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John 04 General Notes
Structure and formatting
John 4:4-38 forms one story centered on the teaching of Jesus as the "living water," providing eternal life to all who believe in him. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/believe)
Special concepts in this chapter
"It was necessary for him to pass through Samaria"
Normally, the Jews would have avoided traveling through the region of Samaria. The Samaritans were viewed as ungodly people because they were descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel who intermarried with pagan peoples. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/ungodly, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/kingdomofisrael and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit)
The proper place of worship
One of the greatest sins committed by the Samaritan people in history was that they set up a false temple in their territory to rival the temple in Jerusalem. This is the mountain the woman refers to in John 4:20. The Jews rightly demanded that all Israelites worship in Jerusalem because that was where Yahweh lived. Jesus explains that the location of the temple does not matter anymore. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/sin)
Harvest
The imagery of harvesting is used in this chapter. This is a metaphor that represents bringing people to faith in Jesus. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/faith)
"The Samaritan woman"
The Samaritan woman is probably intended to contrast with the Jewish reaction towards Jesus. "Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country" (John 4:44). There were many reasons the Jews would have seen this woman as untrustworthy. She was a Samaritan, an adulterer, and a woman. Despite this, she did what God required of her. She believed in Jesus. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/adultery and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/believe)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"In spirit and truth"
True worship is no longer directed to a place, but is now directed towards the person of Jesus. In addition to this, worship is no longer done through priests. Everyone can directly worship God. This phrase implies that the proper worship of God can now be done without physically offering sacrifices and can be done more completely because of greater revelation given to man. There are many additional understandings of this passage. It may be best to leave this phrase as generic as possible in translation so as to not exclude other possible meanings. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/reveal)