Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
- KJV Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
- BSB Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”
- NKJV Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
- NLT So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
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
She raises the dispute over the right place to worship: the Samaritans' mountain or Jerusalem. The question moves the dialogue to the heart of true worship.
Overview
Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim, while Jews insisted on Jerusalem, a longstanding point of division. Whether deflecting or genuinely seeking, the woman brings up the deepest religious difference between the two peoples. Jesus will answer by transcending the question of place altogether.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Deut 12:5–11But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and there you shall come.
- Gen 33:18–20Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city.
- Gen 12:6–7Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the land, then.
- Deut 27:12“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
- Deut 11:29It shall happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal.
- 2 Chr 7:12Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.
- 1 Chr 21:26David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
- Ps 132:13For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.
- Judg 9:6–7All the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
- 1 Chr 22:1Then David said, “This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
- Josh 8:33–35All Israel, their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the priests the Levites, who carried the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
- Luke 9:53They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set towards Jerusalem.
- 1 Kgs 9:3Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
- 2 Chr 7:16For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
- Ps 78:68But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
- 2 Kgs 17:26–33Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”
- 2 Chr 6:6but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- Ps 87:1–2A Psalm by the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
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Original language
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