John 4:12

Modern

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

Traditional

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Literal

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank out of it himself, and his sons and his livestock?”

Latin

Numquid tu major es patre nostro Jacob, qui dedit nobis puteum, et ipse ex eo bibit, et filii ejus, et pecora ejus?

Greek

English

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

Our father Jacob: The Samaritan woman respected the holy traditions related to the well more than the presence of God in front of her.

At an ancient well in Samaria, Jesus offered himself as living water. This living water means the life that comes from God. Jesus spoke openly about who he was. When he revealed God’s truth, people had to respond. They either followed him or turned away.
The Samaritan woman is very different from Nicodemus. She was a woman, not a man. She was a Samaritan, not a Jew. She had a sinful past, not a reputation for righteousness. She was an outsider, not a respected teacher of Israel.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and did not openly respond to the challenges from Jesus (3:1–21). The Samaritan woman spoke with Jesus in the daylight. She recognized him as Lord. She remained in the light and showed signs of becoming a disciple (see 1:35–51).

Theme notes and profiles

John 8:53
Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, as did the prophets. Who do You claim to be?”
Matthew 12:42
The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.
Hebrews 3:3
For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
Isaiah 53:2–3
He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
John 4:6
Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Israel: Patriarch, son of Isaac, father of twelve tribes