properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Sir
κύριε,kurie
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine
perceive
θεωρῶtheōrō
G2334
to be a spectator of · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
thou
σύ.su
G4771
thou · personal pronoun — 2nd person nominative singular
art
εἶeî
G1488
thou art
prophet
προφήτηςprophētēs
G4396
a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — nominative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and…
Luke 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his peop…
John 9:17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
Matthew 21:11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
John 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
2 Kings 5:26 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money,…
2 Kings 6:12 And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 4:4-26
We have here an account of the good Christ did in Samaria, when he passed through that country in his way to Galilee. The Samaritans, both in blood and religion, were mongrel Jews, the posterity of those colonies which the king of Assyria planted there after the captivity of the ten tribes, with whom the poor of the land that were left behind, and many other Jews afterwards, incorporated themselves. They worshipped the God of Israel only, to whom they erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in competition with that at Jerusalem. There was great enmity between them and the Jews; the Samaritans would not admit Christ, when they saw he was going to Jerusalem (Luk 9:53); the Jews thought they could n…
Sir, I perceive, &c.--Seeing herself all revealed, does she now break down and ask what hopes there might be for one so guilty? Nay, her convictions have not reached that point yet. She ingeniously shifts the subject from a personal to a public question. It is not, "Alas, what a wicked life am I leading!" but "Lo, what a wonderful prophet I got into conversation with! He will be able to settle that interminable dispute between us and the Jews. Sir, you must know all about such matters--our fathers hold to this mountain here," pointing to Gerizim in Samaria, "as the divinely consecrated place of worship, but ye Jews say that Jerusalem is the proper place--which of us is right?" How slowly doe…
I perceive that thou art a prophet - And therefore thought him well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not perceive him to be the Messiah.
John Gill on John 4:19
The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... With another countenance, and a different air and gesture, with another accent and tone of speech, dropping her scoffs and jeers:
I perceive that thou art a prophet; such an one as Samuel was, who could tell Saul what was in his heart, and that his father's asses were found, and where they were, 1 Samuel 9:19; and as Elisha, whose heart went with his servant Gehazi, when Naaman turned to him to meet him, and give him presents; and who could tell, ere the king's messenger came to him, that the son of a murderer had sent to take away his head, 2 Kings 5:26. And such a prophet, that had such a spirit of discerning, this woman took Christ to be; and who indeed…
The Church Fathers
(Tr. xv. c. 23) The husband was beginning to come to her, though He had not yet fully come. She thought our Lord a prophet, and He was a prophet: for He says of Himself, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country. (Mat. 13:57)
Christ having heard this, now seasonably introduces His reproof, mentioning accurately both points; for He enumerated all her former husbands, and reproved her for him whom she now would hide. What then did the woman? she was not annoyed, nor did she leave Him and fly, nor deem the thing an insult, but rather admired Him, and persevered the more. "I perceive," saith she, "that Thou art a Prophet." Observe her prudence; she did not straightway run to Him, but still considers Him, and marvels at Him. For, "I perceive," means, "Thou appearest to me to be a Prophet."
With difficulty does she brighten up to apprehension, and that again not yet perfect. For she still calls the Lord of Prophets a Prophet. But she has by degrees shown herself better than before, in no way ashamed at reproof, seizing to her own profit the force of the sign and so going forth from her effeminate understanding, attaining to some extent to a vigorous mind, and stretching forth the eye of her heart to an unwonted view of things. Wherein we must chiefly admire alike the forbearance and power of our Saviour, who easily remodels our untutored understanding to an admirable condition.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Jacobs Well — a deep spring in the vicinity of Shechem (called Sychar in Christ’s time and Nablus at the present day). It was probably dug by Jacob whose name it bears. On the curb of the well Jesus sat and…
Samaritans — The name given to the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677), the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the original…
Samaria · .Jesus travels through — .Jesus travels through
Shechem · .Jesus visits; disciples ma — .Jesus visits; disciples ma
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 4:16-21
16. Jesus saith to her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17. The woman answered, and said to him, I have not a husband. Jesus said to her, Thou hast well said, I have not a husband; 18. For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; in this thou hast told the truth. 19. The woman saith to him, Sir, I see that thou art a Prophet. 20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say that Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship. 21. Jesus saith to her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall not worship the Father either in this mountain or in Jerusalem.
16. Call thy husband. This appears to have no connection with the…
The woman dodged Jesus’ moral probing and brought up the historical ethnic division between Jews and Samaritans.
4:19 a prophet: Jesus revealed knowledge about the woman (4:16-18) that was inaccessible to the average person (cp. 1:48). • As the woman’s understanding of Jesus unfolded, her names for him became increasingly well informed. Earlier she recognized him as a Jew (4:9) and called him sir (4:11, 15, 19). Later she thought he might be the Messiah (4:29). Finally, the people of the village recognized him as Savior of the world (4:42). Her growing understanding of Jesus’ identity is a testimony to John’s readers (see 20:31).
