Yohanes 4:31-42

Workers for the Harvest

4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ¹  “Rabbi, eat something.” ²  4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 4:33 So the disciples began to say ³  to one another, “No one brought him anything ⁴  to eat, did they?” ⁵  4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me ⁶  and to complete ⁷  his work. ⁸  4:35 Don’t you say, ⁹  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ¹⁰  and see that the fields are already white ¹¹  for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ¹²  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, ¹³  ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

The Samaritans Respond

4:39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, ¹⁴  “He told me everything I ever did.” 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking ¹⁵  him to stay with them. ¹⁶  He stayed there two days, 4:41 and because of his word many more ¹⁷  believed. 4:42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one ¹⁸  really is the Savior of the world.” ¹⁹ 

[4:31]  ¹ tn Grk “were asking him, saying.”

[4:31]  ² tn The direct object of φάγε (fage) in Greek is understood; “something” is supplied in English.

[4:33]  ³ tn An ingressive imperfect conveys the idea that Jesus’ reply provoked the disciples’ response.

[4:33]  ⁴ tn The direct object of ἤνεγκεν (hnenken) in Greek is understood; “anything” is supplied in English.

[4:33]  ⁵ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “did they?”).

[4:34]  ⁶ sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.

[4:34]  ⁷ tn Or “to accomplish.”

[4:34]  ⁸ tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.

[4:34]  sn No one brought him anything to eat, did they? In the discussion with the disciples which took place while the woman had gone into the city, note again the misunderstanding: The disciples thought Jesus referred to physical food, while he was really speaking figuratively and spiritually again. Thus Jesus was forced to explain what he meant, and the explanation that his food was his mission, to do the will of God and accomplish his work, leads naturally into the metaphor of the harvest. The fruit of his mission was represented by the Samaritans who were coming to him.

[4:35]  ⁹ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

[4:35]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

[4:35]  ¹¹ tn That is, “ripe.”

[4:36]  ¹² tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

[4:37]  ¹³ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.

[4:39]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “when she testified.”

[4:40]  ¹⁵ tn Following the arrival of the Samaritans, the imperfect verb has been translated as ingressive.

[4:40]  ¹⁶ tn Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[4:41]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and they believed much more.”

[4:42]  ¹⁸ tn Or “this.” The Greek pronoun can mean either “this one” or “this” (BDAG 740 s.v. οὗτος 1).

[4:42]  ¹⁹ sn There is irony in the Samaritans’ declaration that Jesus was really the Savior of the world, an irony foreshadowed in the prologue to the Fourth Gospel (1:11): “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Yet the Samaritans welcomed Jesus and proclaimed him to be not the Jewish Messiah only, but the Savior of the world.