New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, "Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John"
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Now 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
2 —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—
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(Though, in fact, it was his disciples who gave baptism, not Jesus himself),
3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee.
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He went out of Judaea into Galilee again.
4 But he had to go through Samaria.
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And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
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So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
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Now Jacob's fountain was there. Jesus, being tired after his journey, was resting by the fountain. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
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A woman of Samaria came to get water, and Jesus said to her, Give me some water.
8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
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For his disciples had gone to the town to get food.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
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The 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.
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
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In 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.
11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
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The woman said to him, Sir, you have no vessel and the fountain is deep; from where will you get the living water?
12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"
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Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle?
13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
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Jesus said to her, Everyone who takes this water will be in need of it again:
14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
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But 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.
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
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The 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.
16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."
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Jesus said to her, Go, get your husband and come back here with him.
17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband';
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In answer, the woman said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have said rightly, I have no husband:
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"
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You have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband: that was truly said.
19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
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The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."
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Our fathers gave worship on this mountain, but you Jews say that the right place for worship is in Jerusalem.
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
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Jesus 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.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
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You 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.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
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But 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.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
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God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.
25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."
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The 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.
26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
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Jesus said to her, I, who am talking to you, am he.
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"
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At 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?
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
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Then the woman put down her water-pot and went into the town, and said to the people,
29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"
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Come and see a man who has been talking to me of everything I ever did! Is it possible that this is the Christ?
30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
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So they went out of the town and came to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."
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While this was taking place, the disciples were saying to Jesus, Master, take some food.
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
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But he said to them, I have food of which you have no knowledge.
33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"
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So the disciples said one to another, Did anyone give him food?
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.
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Jesus said, My food is to do the pleasure of him who sent me and to make his work complete.
35 Do you not say, "Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
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You 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.
36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
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He 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.
37 For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps.'
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In this the saying is a true one, One does the planting, and another gets in the grain.
38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
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I sent you to get in grain which you had no hand in planting: other men did that work, and you take the reward.
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done."
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Now 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.
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
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So when the people came to him they made request to him to be among them for a time, and he was there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his word.
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And a great number more of them came to have faith in him because of what he himself said.
42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."
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And 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.
43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee
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And after the two days he went on from there into Galilee.
44 (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet's own country).
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For Jesus himself said that a prophet has no honour in the country of his birth.
45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.
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So 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.
46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum.
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So 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.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
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When 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.
48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
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Then Jesus said to him, You will not have faith if you do not see signs and wonders.
49 The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies."
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The man said, Sir, come down before my boy is dead.
50 Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.
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And Jesus said, Go in peace; your son is living. The man had faith in the word which Jesus said to him and went away.
51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive.
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And while he was going down, his servants came to him and said, Your boy is living.
52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him."
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So 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.
53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household.
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It 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.
54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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Now this is the second sign which Jesus did after he had come out of Judaea into Galilee.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.