complete verse (John 4:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 4:15:

  • Uma: “That woman said: ‘If thus, give me that water, so that I will no longer always be thirsty, and I will no longer need to come here to fetch water every day.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘Sir,’ said the woman, ‘give me this water, that you spoke about, to drink, so that I won’t get thirsty again and that I don’t have to keep coming here to draw water.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the woman said, ‘Sir, let me drink some of that water that you are talking about so that I will never get thirsty again, and I will never again also have to fetch water here.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then the woman said, ‘Sir, please give-me-some of that water so I will-never-get-thirsty and I will not have to keep-coming here to go get-water.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The woman said next, ‘Master, well if that’s how it is, give me that water you’re talking about, so that I won’t become thirsty again, coming again and again here to this well to draw water.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The woman said, ‘Sir. Give me the water you are speaking about so that I will never be thirsty. Also I will never come to draw water from this well here.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

He deliberately took time to draw near to social outcasts (image)

“Jesus is dressed in a different style of clothing than the style of the woman who is shown as a Lanna Thai northerner. It is unusual for him to talk to a person from a different region, especially a woman. The clothes, the roof of the house in the background, and the dipper for water all indicate that this is in northern Thailand.”

Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010. . For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.

See also The woman at the well (image).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Woman at the Well .

respectful form of "give" (kudasaru)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, kudasaru (下さる), a respectful form of kureru (くれる) or “give” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also respectful form of “give” (tamawaru) and give (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on John 4:15

The word Sir is the same word used in verse 11 (see there).

Said is literally “said to him,” but in English “to him” is unnecessary in the context.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .