Bible Strands
John 4:22
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, mid-argument about where worship belongs (v. 21). He draws a line between her people's practice and his own.
The words — ὑμεῖς and ἡμεῖς are both emphatic pronouns ("you yourselves" / "we ourselves"), sharpening the contrast into a personal, confrontational division.
The thread — Acts 17:23 records Paul finding an altar "to an unknown god," the same ignorance Jesus names here; Romans 9:4 lists the concrete privileges Israel holds (adoption, covenants, law).
Why it lands — The verse locates salvation in a specific historical people and their revealed God, not in a generic spiritual impulse; it asks the reader to examine whether their worship rests on something they can actually name.
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
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Cross-references
- Acts 17:23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.
- Isaiah 2:3 And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Romans 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
- Luke 24:47 and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Psalms 147:19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
- Acts 17:30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
- Zephaniah 3:16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp.
- Romans 3:1 What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
- Psalms 68:20 Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.
- Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.