John 4:11

Κύριε. Sir, not ‘Lord.’ Having no neutral word in English, we must, as A.V., translate Κύριε sometimes ‘Sir,’ sometimes ‘Lord.’ But ‘Sir’ is a marked change from the feminine pertness of John 4:9 : His words and manner already begin to impress her.

βαθύ. Earlier travellers say over 100 feet; now it is about 75 feet deep. For φρέαρ see on John 4:6 : ἄντλημα here only in N.T.

τὸ ὕδ. τὸ ζ. The water, the living water (see on John 4:9), of which Thou speakest. She thinks He means spring-water as distinct from cistern-water. Comp. Jeremiah 2:13, where the two are strongly contrasted. In Genesis 26:19, as the margin shews, ‘springing water’ is literally ‘living water,’ viva aqua. What did Christ mean by the ‘living water’? Christ here and John 7:38 uses the figure of water, as elsewhere of bread (6) and light (John 8:12), the three most necessary things for life. But he does not identify Himself with the living water, as He does with the Bread, and the Light: therefore it seems better to understand the living water as the ‘grace and truth’ of which He is full (John 1:14). Comp. Sir 15:3; Bar 3:12; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1.