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John 4 :: Bible in Basic English (BBE)

Jhn 4:1Now when it was clear to the Lord that word had come to the ears of the Pharisees that Jesus was making more disciples than John and was giving them baptism
Jhn 4:2(Though, in fact, it was his disciples who gave baptism, not Jesus himself),
Jhn 4:3He went out of Judaea into Galilee again.
Jhn 4:4And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.
Jhn 4:5So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
Jhn 4:6Now Jacob's fountain was there. Jesus, being tired after his journey, was resting by the fountain. It was about the sixth hour.

The Woman of Samaria

Jhn 4:7A woman of Samaria came to get water, and Jesus said to her, Give me some water.
Jhn 4:8For his disciples had gone to the town to get food.
Jhn 4:9The woman of Samaria said to him, Why do you, a Jew, make a request for water to me, a woman of Samaria? She said this because Jews have nothing to do with the people of Samaria.
Jhn 4:10In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water.
Jhn 4:11The woman said to him, Sir, you have no vessel and the fountain is deep; from where will you get the living water?
Jhn 4:12Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle?
Jhn 4:13Jesus said to her, Everyone who takes this water will be in need of it again:
Jhn 4:14But whoever takes the water I give him will never be in need of drink again; for the water I give him will become in him a fountain of eternal life.
Jhn 4:15The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be in need again of drink and will not have to come all this way for it.
Jhn 4:16Jesus said to her, Go, get your husband and come back here with him.
Jhn 4:17In answer, the woman said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have said rightly, I have no husband:
Jhn 4:18You have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband: that was truly said.
Jhn 4:19The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
Jhn 4:20Our fathers gave worship on this mountain, but you Jews say that the right place for worship is in Jerusalem.
Jhn 4:21Jesus said to her, Woman, take my word for this; the time is coming when you will not give worship to the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
Jhn 4:22You give worship, but without knowledge of what you are worshipping: we give worship to what we have knowledge of: for salvation comes from the Jews.
Jhn 4:23But the time is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will give worship to the Father in the true way of the spirit, for these are the worshippers desired by the Father.
Jhn 4:24God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.
Jhn 4:25The woman said to him, I am certain that the Messiah, who is named Christ, is coming; when he comes he will make all things clear to us.
Jhn 4:26Jesus said to her, I, who am talking to you, am he.
Jhn 4:27At that point the disciples came back, and they were surprised to see him talking to a woman; but not one of them said to him, What is your purpose? or, Why are you talking to her?
Jhn 4:28Then the woman put down her water-pot and went into the town, and said to the people,
Jhn 4:29Come and see a man who has been talking to me of everything I ever did! Is it possible that this is the Christ?
Jhn 4:30So they went out of the town and came to him.
Jhn 4:31While this was taking place, the disciples were saying to Jesus, Master, take some food.
Jhn 4:32But he said to them, I have food of which you have no knowledge.
Jhn 4:33So the disciples said one to another, Did anyone give him food?
Jhn 4:34Jesus said, My food is to do the pleasure of him who sent me and to make his work complete.
Jhn 4:35You would say, Four months from now is the time of the grain-cutting. Take a look, I say to you, at the fields; they are even now white for cutting.
Jhn 4:36He who does the cutting now has his reward; he is getting together fruit for eternal life, so that he who did the planting and he who gets in the grain may have joy together.
Jhn 4:37In this the saying is a true one, One does the planting, and another gets in the grain.
Jhn 4:38I sent you to get in grain which you had no hand in planting: other men did that work, and you take the reward.

The Samaritans

Jhn 4:39Now a number of the people of that town had faith in him because of the woman's witness: He has been talking to me of everything I ever did.
Jhn 4:40So when the people came to him they made request to him to be among them for a time, and he was there two days.
Jhn 4:41And a great number more of them came to have faith in him because of what he himself said.
Jhn 4:42And they said to the woman, Now we have faith, but not because of your story: we ourselves have given ear to his words, and we are certain that he is truly the Saviour of the world.
Jhn 4:43And after the two days he went on from there into Galilee.
Jhn 4:44For Jesus himself said that a prophet has no honour in the country of his birth.
Jhn 4:45So when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans took him to their hearts because of the things which they had seen him do in Jerusalem at the feast--they themselves having been there at the feast.

Healing a Nobleman's Son

Jhn 4:46So he came to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain man of high position whose son was ill at Capernaum.
Jhn 4:47When it came to his ears that Jesus had come from Judaea into Galilee, he went to him and made a request that he would come down to his son, who was near to death, and make him well.
Jhn 4:48Then Jesus said to him, You will not have faith if you do not see signs and wonders.
Jhn 4:49The man said, Sir, come down before my boy is dead.
Jhn 4:50And Jesus said, Go in peace; your son is living. The man had faith in the word which Jesus said to him and went away.
Jhn 4:51And while he was going down, his servants came to him and said, Your boy is living.
Jhn 4:52So he put a question to them as to the hour when he became better; and they said to him, The disease went from him yesterday at the seventh hour.
Jhn 4:53It was clear then to the father that this was the very time at which Jesus said to him, Your son is living. And he had faith in Jesus, he and all his family.
Jhn 4:54Now this is the second sign which Jesus did after he had come out of Judaea into Galilee.
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The Bible in Basic English was translated by Professor Samuel Henry Hooke (1874-1968)
This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.

Pericope

Pericope taken from the NASB95 and has been graciously provided by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
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John Chapter 4 — Additional Translations: