Lectionary Calendar
Friday, October 11th, 2024
the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

John 4:18

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

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adultery;   Jacob;   Jesus, the Christ;   Jesus Continued;   Samaria;   Shechem;   Sin;   Scofield Reference Index - Bible Prayers;   Thompson Chain Reference - Character Transformed;   Conversion;   Samaritans;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Shechem;   Wells and Springs;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Jesus christ;   John, gospel of;   Women;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Sexuality, Human;   Woman;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Commentary;   Patience;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Samaritans;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Adoption;   Gospels;   Jesus Christ;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hour;   Jesus, Life and Ministry of;   John, the Gospel of;   Marriage;   Woman;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Messiah;   Mss;   Woman;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Attributes of Christ;   Consciousness;   Discourse;   Fig-Tree ;   Husband ;   Individuality;   John (the Apostle);   Kenosis;   Metaphor;   Numbers (2);   Palestine;   Perfect Perfection;   Power;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Samaritans;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Mount samaria;   Samaria;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ja'cob's Well,;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Five;  

Parallel Translations

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."
Legacy Standard Bible
for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."
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."
Bible in Basic English
You have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband: that was truly said.
Darby Translation
for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now thou hast is not thy husband: this thou hast spoken truly.
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."
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."
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."
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.
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.
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."
American Standard Version
for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou 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.
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 Century Version
Really you have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the 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!"
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!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thou hast had fiue husbands, and he whom thou nowe hast, is not thine husband: that saidest thou truely.
George Lamsa Translation
For you have had five husbands; and the one you now have is not your husband; what you said is true.
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.
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."
English Revised Version
for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou 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."
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.
King James Version
For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
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!"
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.
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."
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."
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."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for thou hast hadde fyue hosebondis, and he that thou hast, is not thin hosebonde. This thing thou seidist sotheli.
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.'

Contextual Overview

4 And it was needful for Him to pass through Samaria. 5 And He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 And Jacob's fountain was there. Then being wearied by the journey, Jesus sat thus on the fountain. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman came out of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me some to drink. 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city that they might buy provisions. 9 Then the Samaritan woman said to Him, How do You, being a Jew, ask to drink from me, I being a Samaritan woman? For Jews do not deal with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who is the One saying to you, Give Me to drink, you would have asked Him, and He would give you living water. 11 The woman said to Him, Sir, You have no vessel, and the well is deep. From where then do You have living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and he and his sons and his livestock drank out of it? 13 Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone drinking 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 five years and fathered Methuselah.
Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile