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John 4 General Notes
Structure and formatting
John 4:4-38 forms one story centered on the teaching of Jesus as the "living water," the one who gives 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"
Jews avoided traveling through the region of Samaria because the Samaritans were descendants of ungodly people. So Jesus had to do what most Jews did not want to do. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/godly and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/names/kingdomofisrael)
"The hour is coming"
Jesus used these words to begin prophecies about times that could be shorter or longer than sixty minutes. "The hour" in which true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth is longer than sixty minutes.
The proper place of worship
Long before Jesus lived, the Samaritan people had broken the law of Moses by setting up a false temple in their land (John 4:20). Jesus explained to the woman that it was no longer important where people worshiped (John 4:21-24).
Harvest
Harvest is when people go out to get the food they have planted so they can bring it to their houses and eat it. Jesus used this as a metaphor to teach his followers that they need to go and tell other people about Jesus so those people can be part of God's kingdom. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/faith)
"The Samaritan woman"
John probably told this story to show the difference between the Samaritan woman, who believed, and the Jews, who did not believe and later killed Jesus. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/believe)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"In spirit and truth"
The people who truly know who God is and enjoy worshiping him and love him for who he is are the ones who truly please him. Where they worship is not important.