John 4 · a question people ask

Jesus says to the woman, "you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband" (4:18). Does John say what happened to her husbands, or why Jesus spoke of them?

In the text

Here is what John tells, in order. "Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”" (4:16). "The woman answered, “I have no husband.”" (4:17). Jesus answers, "You said well, ‘I have no husband,’" (4:17), "for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly" (4:18). She says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet" (4:19). John doesn't say how any of her marriages ended, or who the man she now has is, or why Jesus said, "Go, call your husband" (4:16). He tells what she said afterward to the people of the city: "Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done" (4:29), and that "many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman" (4:39). These notes say no more about her life than these verses do, and apply nothing in them to anyone's marriage.

The verses

“Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
John 4:16-19 · World English Bible
““Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?””
John 4:29 · World English Bible
“From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.””
John 4:39 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 4

John 4: Living water

At the well Jesus offers "living water" (4:10), and at the end of the chapter he tells the nobleman, "Your son lives" (4:50): in Greek it is the same verb. And the first time in John's Gospel that Jesus says "I am he", he says it to a woman of Samaria (4:26), whose word brought many of her city to believe (4:39).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions