John 4:20
New International Version
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

New Living Translation
So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”

English Standard Version
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Berean Standard Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Berean Literal Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship."

King James Bible
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

New King James Version
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

New American Standard Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.”

NASB 1995
“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

NASB 1977
“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

Amplified Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].”

Christian Standard Bible
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

American Standard Version
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Our forefathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.”

Contemporary English Version
My ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say, that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.

English Revised Version
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem."

Good News Translation
"My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God."

International Standard Version
Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem."

Literal Standard Version
our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and You say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is required to worship.”

Majority Standard Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”

New American Bible
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

NET Bible
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

New Revised Standard Version
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

New Heart English Bible
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

Webster's Bible Translation
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Weymouth New Testament
Our forefathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

World English Bible
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Young's Literal Translation
our fathers in this mountain did worship, and ye -- ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where it behoveth to worship.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
19“Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.…

Cross References
Genesis 33:20
There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

Deuteronomy 11:29
When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

Joshua 8:33
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

Isaiah 66:1
This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

Luke 9:53
But the people there refused to welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem.

John 4:12
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?"


Treasury of Scripture

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

fathers.

Genesis 12:6,7
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land…

Genesis 33:18-20
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city…

Deuteronomy 27:12
These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

and ye.

Deuteronomy 12:5-11
But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: …

1 Kings 9:3
And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

1 Chronicles 21:26
And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

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John 4
1. Jesus talks with a woman of Samaria, and reveals his identity to her.
27. His disciples marvel.
31. He declares to them his zeal for God's glory.
39. Many Samaritans believe on him.
43. He departs into Galilee, and heals the ruler's son that lay sick at Capernaum.














(20) Our fathers worshipped.--She gives a sudden turn to the conversation. It is not that the question of worship is the all-engrossing problem of her mind, for which she seeks solution at this prophet's hands. Such questions hardly came then within the circle of a Samaritan woman's thoughts, and this woman's life had not been such as to make her an exception to the rule; but the heart, quivering before the eye that reads it as it never before had read itself, shrinks from the light that is let in upon it. She will speak of anything rather than of self. There is the mountain overhanging them, the theme of many a discussion between Samaritan and Jew; she will ask the prophet to decide that question.

Verse 20. - Our fathers. The "our" refers here to the Samaritans, just as the "ye" does to the Jews. She may be going back once more to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who worshipped and laboured at Shechem - but the mountain itself was not the site of a temple until the days of Nehemiah, and the temple in which the apostate Manasseh, son of Jaddua, offered sacrifices had been destroyed for nearly a hundred and fifty years. A chronological, if not more serious, difference is apparent between Nehemiah and Josephus (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 11:08. 2; Nehemiah 13:28). According to the former, the Samaritan schism which led to the erection of the temple was a hundred years before the period assigned by Josephus. For whereas Nehemiah says that the apostate priest whom he chased away was son-in-law of Sanballat, the Persian satrap in Samaria, Josephus makes Sanballat contemporary with Alexander, and represents the establishment of the Samaritan temple as originating with his approval. Josephus further ('Ant.,' 13:09, 1) says that the temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus, about B.C. 129, and adds that it had stood two hundred years. The temple was destroyed, but "the mountain of blessing" remained for the Samaritans as a place of prayer ('Ant.,' 18:04. 1; 'Bell. Jud.,' 1:02, 6). This was conserved, on the ground that Abraham and Jacob had here built altars (Deuteronomy 11:26; Deuteronomy 27:4-13). In Deuteronomy 27:4, however, Mount Ebal in mentioned as the place where an altar had been first built to Jehovah. In the Samaritan Pentateuch the word "Gerizim" had in this place been substituted for "Ebal;" and so it came to pass that Gerizim had been a place of prayer throughout the long interval When Jesus was at Jacob's well, he could see the ruins of the edifice where sacrifice and praises were being offered. Indeed, these have continued to the present day. The oldest shrine in the world for local worship still holds its own, hard by the very spot where the most complete overthrow of the principle of sacred places fell in divinest words from the lips of the Holy One. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain - Gerizim, where the ruins of the temple still abide - and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship. Jerusalem is not mentioned in their sacred books - Jerusalem, whose unity of sanctuary was recognized at length as the τόπος where the Lord would put his Name, and where alone the sacrifices could possess their historic and symbolic validity. Whensoever the Pentateuch may have been finally edited, all critics will allow that, at the time of the Lord, and in the Samaritan Version of the Pentateuch, the idea of such unity of sanctuary was a fixed principle. The Samaritans claimed Gerizim, and the Jews Moriah, as the place where Abraham offered his typical sacrifice, and both regarded the worship celebrated in their favourite shrine - the daily offering, the annual feasts (the Passover especially) - as giving worthiness to all the prayers and praises which they might be induced to offer in all places where they might sojourn. The woman does not submit to our Lord that he may settle this great question for her, but she makes it clear enough that she would like to know his verdict. The worship was the sacrificial worship where sin such as hers could alone be cleansed, and where her conscience could be set free for calm and continuous communion with God.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

forefathers
πατέρες (pateres)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

worshiped
προσεκύνησαν (prosekynēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4352: From pros and a probable derivative of kuon; to fawn or crouch to, i.e. prostrate oneself in homage.

on
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

this
τούτῳ (toutō)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

mountain,
ὄρει (orei)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3735: A mountain, hill. Probably from an obsolete oro; a mountain: -hill, mount(-ain).

but
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

you [ Jews ]
ὑμεῖς (hymeis)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

say
λέγετε (legete)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

that
ὅτι (hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

the
(ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

place
τόπος (topos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5117: Apparently a primary word; a spot, i.e. Location; figuratively, condition, opportunity; specially, a scabbard.

where
ὅπου (hopou)
Adverb
Strong's 3699: Where, whither, in what place. From hos and pou; what(-ever) where, i.e. At whichever spot.

[one] must
δεῖ (dei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1163: Third person singular active present of deo; also deon deh-on'; neuter active participle of the same; both used impersonally; it is Necessary.

worship
προσκυνεῖν (proskynein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 4352: From pros and a probable derivative of kuon; to fawn or crouch to, i.e. prostrate oneself in homage.

is
ἐστὶν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Jerusalem.”
Ἱεροσολύμοις (Hierosolymois)
Noun - Dative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2414: The Greek form of the Hebrew name: Jerusalem. Of Hebrew origin; Hierosolyma


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NT Gospels: John 4:20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain (Jhn Jo Jn)
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