Bible Strands
John 4:10
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well immediately after she questions his cross-cultural request for water. He responds to her surprise by redirecting the exchange from physical need to divine provision.
The words — εἰ (ei) = if and ᾔδεις (ēdeis) = you had known structure a conditional clause that marks the woman’s current lack of spiritual perception.
The thread — The text defines the gift as living water in John 4:14, promising permanent quenching of thirst. This theme continues in John 7:37, which commands the thirsty to come to Jesus, and Revelation 7:17, where the Lamb guides believers to springs of living water.
Why it lands — The passage states that God initiates the gift based on His knowledge and identity, not human request. It requires the reader to acknowledge their dependence on divine provision rather than self-sufficiency.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Cross-references
- John 4:14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
- John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- Revelation 21:6 And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Psalms 36:8 They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
- John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
- Zechariah 14:8 And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.