John 4:24

THE MESSAGE

The Woman at the Well Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water." The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?" Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!" He said, "Go call your husband and then come back." "I have no husband," she said. "That's nicely put: ‘I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough." "Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?" "Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
God is spirit,

King James Version (1611)
God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit, and in trueth.

King James Version
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

English Standard Version
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

New American Standard Bible
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

New Century Version
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Amplified Bible
"God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Legacy Standard Bible
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Berean Standard Bible
God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Contemporary English Version
God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.

Complete Jewish Bible
God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly."

Darby Translation
God [is] a spirit; and they who worship him must worship [him] in spirit and truth.

Easy-to-Read Version
God is spirit. So the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Geneva Bible (1587)
God is a Spirite, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and trueth.

George Lamsa Translation
For God is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Good News Translation
God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is."

Lexham English Bible
God is spirit, and the ones who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Literal Translation
God is a spirit, and the ones worshiping Him must worship in spirit and truth.

American Standard Version
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Bible in Basic English
God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.

Hebrew Names Version
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

International Standard Version
God is spirit,Spirit">[fn] and those who worship him must worship in spiritin the Spirit">[fn] and truth."2 Corinthians 3:17;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For Aloha is a Spirit; and they who worship him, in spirit and in truth must worship.

Murdock Translation
For God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, should worship in spirit and in truth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
God is a spirite, and they that worshippe hym, must worshippe hym in spirite, and in the trueth.

English Revised Version
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

World English Bible
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Weymouth's New Testament
God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must bring Him true spiritual worship."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
God is a spirit, and it bihoueth hem that worschipen hym, to worschipe in spirit and treuthe.

Update Bible Version
God is Spirit: and those that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Webster's Bible Translation
God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him, must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

New English Translation
God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

New King James Version
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

New Living Translation
For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

New Life Bible
God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

New Revised Standard
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
God is, spirit; and, they that worship him, in spirit and truth, must needs worship.

Douay-Rheims Bible
God is a spirit: and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth.

Revised Standard Version
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
God is a sprete and they that worshippe him must worshippe him in sprete and trouthe.

Young's Literal Translation
God [is] a Spirit, and those worshipping Him, in spirit and truth it doth behove to worship.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
God is a sprete, and they that worshippe him, must worshippe in sprete and in the trueth.

Mace New Testament (1729)
God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Simplified Cowboy Version
God is real, and those who ride for him must worship him for real also."

Contextual Overview

⁴To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. ⁷A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water." ¹¹The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?" ¹³Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." ¹⁵ The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!" ¹⁶ He said, "Go call your husband and then come back." ¹⁷"I have no husband," she said. "That's nicely put: ‘I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough." ¹⁹"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:17, 1 Timothy 1:17

must: 1 Samuel 16:7, Psalms 50:13-15, Psalms 50:23, Psalms 51:17, Psalms 66:18, Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 15:8, Matthew 15:9, 2 Corinthians 1:12

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:24 - altar Deuteronomy 4:16 - the likeness Joshua 24:14 - serve 1 Samuel 7:3 - prepare 1 Chronicles 28:9 - serve him Psalms 50:16 - What Psalms 51:6 - Behold Psalms 93:5 - holiness Psalms 103:1 - all that Psalms 145:18 - call upon Proverbs 15:8 - sacrifice Isaiah 48:1 - not in truth Ezekiel 20:3 - As I Malachi 3:3 - an Romans 1:9 - with 1 Corinthians 14:15 - I will pray with the spirit Ephesians 5:19 - making Philippians 3:3 - worship 1 Timothy 2:8 - pray

Cross-References

Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

Matthew 18:22
Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

God is a spirit,.... Or "the Spirit is God"; a divine person, possessed of all divine perfections, as appears from his names, works, and worship ascribed unto him; :-; though the Arabic and Persic versions, and others, read as we do, "God is a spirit"; that is, God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: for taking the words in this light, not one of the persons is to be understood exclusive of the other; for this description, or definition, agrees with each of them, and they are all the object of worship, and to be worshipped in a true and spiritual manner. God is a spirit, and not a body, or a corporeal substance: the nature and essence of God is like a spirit, simple and uncompounded, not made up of parts; nor is it divisible; nor does it admit of any change and alteration. God, as a spirit, is immaterial, immortal, invisible, and an intelligent, willing, and active being; but differs from other spirits, in that he is not created, but an immense and infinite spirit, and an eternal one, which has neither beginning nor end: he is therefore a spirit by way of eminency, as well as effectively, he being the author and former of all spirits: whatever excellence is in them, must be ascribed to God in the highest manner; and whatever is imperfect in them, must be removed from him:

and they that worship him; worship is due to him on account of his nature and perfections, both internal and external; with both the bodies and souls of men; and both private and public; in the closet, in the family, and in the church of God; as prayer, praise, attendance on the word and ordinances:

must worship him in spirit and in truth; in the true and spiritual manner before described, which is suitable to his nature, and agreeably to his will.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God is A spirit - This is the second reason why men should worship him in spirit and in truth. By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This is one of the first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that he is a pure spirit. As he is such a spirit, he dwells not in temples made with hands Acts 7:48, neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Acts 17:25. A pure, a holy, a spiritual worship, therefore, is such as he seeks - the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body - the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 24. God is a Spirit — This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things - the fountain of all perfection - without parts or dimensions, for he is ETERNAL - filling the heavens and the earth - pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for he is an infinite SPIRIT! This God can be pleased only with that which resembles himself: therefore he must hate sin and sinfulness; and can delight in those only who are made partakers of his own Divine nature. As all creatures were made by him, so all owe him obedience and reverence; but, to be acceptable to this infinite Spirit, the worship must be of a spiritual nature - must spring from the heart, through the influence of the Holy Ghost: and it must be in TRUTH, not only in sincerity, but performed according to that Divine revelation which he has given men of himself. A man worships God in spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, he brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the throne of God; and he worships him in truth, when every purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his religious worship, is guided and regulated by the word of God. "The enlightened part of mankind," says Abu'l Fazel, "knows that true righteousness is an upright heart; and believe that God can only be worshipped in holiness of SPIRIT." Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 254.

"Of all worshippers," says Creeshna, "I respect him as the most devout, who hath faith in me, and who serveth me with a soul possessed of my spirit." Geeta, p. 68.