What Does John 4:15 Mean?
The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I do not thirst, and do not come here to draw.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.THE KEY
She asks for water that ends not only thirst, but the repeated labor of returning to draw it.
THE MEANING
Thirst is not the only burden here; the repeated return to draw is part of what the reader longs to leave behind. The request reaches beyond brief relief toward a source that ends the cycle of coming back for more. The next verse describes that source as water springing up within the one who receives it.
THE ROOT
ἀντλῆσαι
antlēsai
GROWS FROM
ἀντλ-
antl-
To draw or bail liquid.
“draw” in this verse is antlēsai. The verb names the concrete work of drawing water, and its related noun ἄντλημα names the implement for doing it. Her request reaches beyond thirst to the repeated work that brings water to her.
ALSO GROWS
antlēma: A drawing implement or bucket.
ἄντλημα
The related noun appears in her earlier question about having nothing to draw with, tying this request to the same task.
antlia: A vessel or pump used to draw liquid.
ἀντλία
This related word keeps the root connected to the means and labor of drawing water.
δός
dos
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
To give or grant.
The imperative makes the water something she asks another to give. Related words name what is given as a gift, so her own phrasing already presents the water as received provision.
ALSO GROWS
dōron: A gift.
δῶρον
This related word shows the gift sense carried by the act of giving she requests.
dōrea: A gift or free gift.
δωρεά
The same giving family keeps the focus on provision received, rather than provision she draws herself.
THE PATTERN
Thirst is met by an invitation to receive water as a gift.
Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.And he says to me, It has come to be. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who thirsts I will give from the spring of the waters of life, as a gift.THE THREAD
The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you have that living water?The noun translated “to draw with” shares its root with the verb “to draw” in this verse. Her request shifts from asking how Jesus could draw water to asking for water that ends her own repeated drawing.
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