John 4:18

George Lamsa Translation

For you have had five husbands; and the one you now have is not your husband; what you said is true.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

King James Version (1611)
For thou hast had fiue husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband: In that saidest thou truely.

King James Version
For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

English Standard Version
for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

New American Standard Bible
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true."

New Century Version
Really you have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth."

Amplified Bible
for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. You have said this truthfully."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

Legacy Standard Bible
for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

Berean Standard Bible
In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully."

Complete Jewish Bible
You've had five husbands in the past, and you're not married to the man you're living with now! You've spoken the truth!"

Darby Translation
for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now thou hast is not thy husband: this thou hast spoken truly.

Easy-to-Read Version
That's because, although you have had five husbands, the man you live with now is not your husband. That much was the truth."

Geneva Bible (1587)
For thou hast had fiue husbands, and he whom thou nowe hast, is not thine husband: that saidest thou truely.

Good News Translation
You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth."

Lexham English Bible
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truthfully!"

Literal Translation
For you have had five husbands, and now he whom you have is not your husband. You have spoken this truly.

American Standard Version
for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.

Bible in Basic English
You have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband: that was truly said.

Hebrew Names Version
for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

International Standard Version
For you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."

Etheridge Translation
for five husbands hast thou had, and this whom thou now hast is not thy husband; this hast thou said truly.

Murdock Translation
for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. In this thou didst speak truly.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For thou hast had fyue husbandes, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husbande. In that saydest thou truely.

English Revised Version
for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.

World English Bible
for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband: in this thou saidst truly.

Weymouth's New Testament
"for you have had five husbands, and the man you have at present is not your husband. You have spoken the truth in saying that."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for thou hast hadde fyue hosebondis, and he that thou hast, is not thin hosebonde. This thing thou seidist sotheli.

Update Bible Version
for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: this you have said truly.

Webster's Bible Translation
For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband: in that thou hast spoken truth.

New English Translation
for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!"

New King James Version
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."

New Living Translation
for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!"

New Life Bible
You have had five husbands. The one you have now is not your husband. You told the truth."

New Revised Standard
for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
for, five husbands, thou hast had, - and, now, he whom thou hast, is not thy, husband: This true thing, hast thou spoken.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. This, thou hast said truly.

Revised Standard Version
for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Iesus sayde to her. Thou hast well sayd I have no husbande. For thou haste had five husbandes and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. That saydest thou truely.

Young's Literal Translation
for five husbands thou hast had, and, now, he whom thou hast is not thy husband; this hast thou said truly.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Iesus sayde vnto her: Thou hast sayde well, I haue no hussbande: for thou hast had fyue hussbandes, and he whom thou hast now, is not thine hussbande: there saydest thou right.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have, is not your husband: in that you said true.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Truth is, you have had five husbands and the man you live with now ain't one of them. So, you're right. You don't have a husband."

Contextual Overview

⁴ He had to go through Samaritan territory. ⁵ Then he came to a Samaritan city, called Sychar, near the field which Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Now Jacob''s well was there; and Jesus was tired by the fatigue of the journey, and sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ And there came a woman from Samaria to draw water; and Jesus said to her, Give me water to drink. ⁸ His disciples had entered into the city to buy food for themselves. ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it? You are a Jew, and yet you ask me for a drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no social intercourse with Samaritans. ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, If you only knew the gift of God, and who is the man who said to you, Give me a drink; you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. ¹¹ The woman said to him, My lord, you have no leather bucket, and no deep well; where do you get the living water? ¹² Why, are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and he himself drank from it, and his sons and his sheep? ¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is not: Genesis 20:3, Genesis 34:2, Genesis 34:7, Genesis 34:8, Genesis 34:31, Numbers 5:29, Ruth 4:10, Jeremiah 3:20, Ezekiel 16:32, Mark 10:12, Romans 7:3, 1 Corinthians 7:10, 1 Corinthians 7:11, Hebrews 13:4

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 16:35 - O harlot John 4:16 - Go John 4:29 - General Romans 11:20 - Well

Cross-References

Genesis 5:21
And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begot Methuselah;

Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives from among the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For thou hast had five husbands,.... Which she either had had lawfully, and had buried one after another; and which was no crime, and might be: the Sadducees propose a case to Christ, in which a woman is said to have had seven husbands successively, in a lawful manner, Matthew 22:25. Or rather, she had had so many, and had been divorced from everyone of them, for adultery; for no other cause it should seem did the Samaritans divorce; seeing that they only received the law of Moses, and rejected, at least, many of the traditions of the elders; and since they are particularly said y

"not to be expert in the law of marriages and divorces:''

and the rather this may seem to be the case, as Dr. Lightfoot observes; since these husbands are mentioned, as well as he with whom she lived in an adulterous manner; and which suggests, that she had not lived honestly with them:

and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband; that is, not thy lawful husband, as the Persic version reads, and Nonnus paraphrases; being not married to him at all, though they cohabited as man and wife, when there was no such relation between them:

in that saidst thou truly; or that which is truth: thus Christ the omniscient God, who knew her full well, and the whole of her past infamous conversation, and her present lewd and wicked way of living, exposes all unto her.

y T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol 76. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hast had five husbands - Who have either died; or who, on account of your improper conduct, have divorced you; or whom you have left improperly, without legal divorce. Either of these might have be. en the case.

Is not thy husband - You are not lawfully married to him. Either she might have left a former husband without divorce, and thus her marriage with this man was unlawful, or she was living with him without the form of marriage, in open guilt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 4:18. Thou hast had five husbands — It is not clear that this woman was a prostitute: she might have been legally married to those five, and might have been divorced through some misbehaviour of her own, not amounting to adultery; for the adulteress was to be put to death, both by the Jewish and Samaritan law, not divorced: or she might have been cast off through some caprice of her husband; for, in the time of our Lord, divorces were very common among the Jews, so that a man put away his wife for any fault. Matthew 5:31. Some are so very fond of exaggerating that nothing can pass through their hands without an increase: hence Heracleon says she had six husbands, and Jerome modestly gives her twenty-two! Viginti duos habuisti maritos, et ille a quo sepelieris non est tuus. "Thou hast had twenty-two husbands and he by whom thou shalt be buried is not thine." Epist. xi.

He whom thou now hast is not thy husband — Νυν ὁν εχεις, ουκ εϚι σου ανηρ. Bishop Pearce would translate this clause in the following manner: There is no husband whom thou now hast-or, less literally, Thou hast no husband now: probably the meaning is, Thou art contracted to another, but not yet brought home: therefore he is not yet thy husband. See Rosenmuller. Bishop Pearce contends that our Lord did not speak these words to her by way of reproof:

1. Because it is not likely that a woman so far advanced in years as to have had five husbands should have now been found living in adultery with a sixth person.

2. Because it is not likely that our Lord would not, in some part of his discourse, have reproved her for her fornication, especially if guilty of it under such gross circumstances.

3. Nor is it likely that a woman of so bad a life should have had so much influence with the people of her city that they should, on her testimony, John 4:39-42, believe Jesus to be the Messiah.

4. Nor is it at all likely that when a discovery of her guilt was made to her, by one whom she acknowledged to be a prophet, John 4:19, the first thing which came into her thoughts should be the important question in religion, about the place appointed by God for his worship, so warmly contested between the Jews and Samaritans.

5. Nor is it at all probable that a person of such a bad life, without any mentioned sign of repentance, should have been the first (perhaps the only private person) to whom Jesus is recorded as declaring himself to be the Christ, as he does to her, John 4:26.