In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”
Parallel translations
- WEB for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
- KJV For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
- NKJV for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
- NASB for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.”
- NLT 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!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus reveals that she has had five husbands and the man she now has is not her husband. His knowledge of her hidden life confirms his prophetic, indeed divine, insight.
Overview
Without condemnation but with clear truth, Jesus discloses the broken history of her relationships. His accurate knowledge of her life mirrors his knowing 'what was in man' (2:25). This gentle exposure of her need draws her toward the living water he offers rather than driving her away.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 7:3So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.
- 1 Cor 7:10–11To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
- Jer 3:20But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
- Mark 10:12And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
- Gen 34:31But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
- Gen 20:3One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
- Num 5:29This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,
- Ezek 16:32You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband!
- Gen 34:2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.
- Ruth 4:10Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”
- Gen 34:7–8When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
- Heb 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 4:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.