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John 4 · a question people ask

John says, "For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country" (4:44), and then that "the Galileans received him" (4:45). Which country does he mean?

In the text

Here are the verses together. "After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee" (4:43). "For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country" (4:44). "So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast" (4:45). John doesn't say which country he means, or how the saying of 4:44 bears on what comes before it or after it. These notes don't say either. The go-deeper sets the saying beside the way Mark, Matthew and Luke give it.

The verses

“After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.”
John 4:43-45 · 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