John 4:27

Upon this

(επ τουτω). This idiom only here in N.T. At this juncture. Apparently the woman left at once when the disciples came.They marvelled

(εθαυμαζον). Imperfect active describing the astonishment of the disciples as they watched Jesus talking with a woman.Was speaking

(ελαλε). As in John 2:25, so here the tense is changed in indirect discourse from λαλε to ελαλε, an unusual idiom in Greek. However, οτ here may be "because" and then the imperfect is regular. It is not "with the woman" (μετα της γυναικος), but simply "with a woman" (μετα γυναικος). There was a rabbinical precept: "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife" (Lightfoot, Hor, Hebr. iii. 287). The disciples held Jesus to be a rabbi and felt that he was acting in a way beneath his dignity.Yet no man said

(ουδεις μεντο ειπεν). John remembers through the years their amazement and also their reverence for Jesus and unwillingness to reflect upon him.