John 4:8-10

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. John 4:8 tn Grk “buy food.”
2. John 4:8 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink.
3. John 4:9 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.
4. John 4:9 tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
5. John 4:9 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.
6. John 4:9 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
7. John 4:10 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
8. John 4:10 tn Or “if you knew.”
9. John 4:10 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
10. John 4:10 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.