World English Bible · Under Rome
John 4
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Therefore when knew that the had heard that was making and more than (although himself didn't , but his ), he left and departed into . He needed to pass through . So he came to a city of called , near the parcel of ground that gave to his son . well was there. therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of came to draw water. said to her, "Give me a drink." For his had gone away into the city to buy food. The woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a , ask for a drink from me, a woman?" (For have no dealings with .) answered her, "If you knew the gift of , and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? Are you greater than , who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?" answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to ." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all here to draw." said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17The woman answered, "I have no husband." said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly." The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a . Our fathers in this mountain, and you say that in is the place where people ought to ." said to her, "Woman, me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in will you . You that which you don't know. We that which we know; for is from the . But the hour comes, and now is, when the true will in and truth, for seeks such to be his . is , and those who him must in and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that is coming, he who is called . When he has come, he will declare to us all things." said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you." then, his came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?" So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be ?" They went out of the city, and were coming to him. In the meanwhile, urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about." therefore said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest'? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to , that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." From that city many of the in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I have done." So when the came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. Many more because of his word. They said to the woman, "Now we , not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed , the of the world." After the two days he went out from there and went into . For himself testified that a has no in his own country. So when he came into , the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in at the feast, for they also went to the feast. came therefore again to of , where he made the water into . There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at . When he heard that had come out of into , he went to him and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of . therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way ." The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man the word that spoke to him, and he went his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives!" 52So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him." So knew that it was at that hour in which said to him, "Your son lives." He , as did his whole house. This is again the second sign that did, having come out of into .
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.