Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
John 4:9
Have no dealings with. A rare verb, and it may mean do not share vessels.
John 4:9, in every translation this tool compares.
A single-occurrence word is a word with no witnesses. You guess from the sentence and from whatever else the culture has left behind.
Because the clause explains the whole scene and the verb occurs once in the New Testament, so what exactly the Jews and Samaritans did not do is not certain.
Versions read have no dealings with, do not associate with, or do not share things in common with.
συγχράομαι sugchraomai · G4798
Sugchraomai occurs only here in the New Testament. The narrower reading is that Jews would not use vessels in common with Samaritans, which fits the scene exactly, since the dispute is about a drinking vessel.
There's no English verb for ritual non-sharing of utensils, so every rendering generalises to social avoidance, and the point about the cup is lost.
When a rare word sits in a clause explaining a scene, read it against the scene. The narrative is usually the best evidence available.
Do not associate with is the majority modern rendering; the narrower vessel reading appears in footnotes and commentaries.
- Only occurrence in the New Testament
- Mishnaic rules on Samaritan vessels
- The clause may be the narrator's aside rather than the woman's words
