for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
Parallel translations
- KJV For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
- BSB In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”
- 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, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
- 1 Cor 7:10–11But to the married I command — not I, but the Lord — that the wife not leave her husband
- Jer 3:20“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.
- Mark 10:12If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.”
- Gen 34:31They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
- Gen 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.”
- Num 5:29“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;
- Ezek 16:32“‘“A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband!
- Gen 34:2Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
- Ruth 4:10Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
- Gen 34:7–8The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; a thing ought not to be done.
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.