15. Dicit ad eum mulier: Domine, da mihi hanc aquam, ut non sitiam, neque veniam huc haurire.15. The woman saith to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw.

15. Yet she probably still understands of Him merely natural water, “Adhuc carnalis est mulier” (Mald.): and anticipates only relief from having come to Jacob's well in future.

16. Dicit ei Iesus: Vade, voca virum tuum, et veni huc.16. Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

16. Christ, of course, knew she had no husband; but He knew also what answer she would give, and He wished to get a natural opportunity of disclosing to her the secrets of her wicked life, that He might manifest His supernatural knowledge.

17. Respondit mulier, et dixit: Non habeo virum. Dicit ei Iesus: Bene dixisti, quia non habeo virum:17. The woman answered, and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband:
18. Quinque enim viros habuisti: et nunc quem habes, non est tuus vir: hoc vere dixisti.18. For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly.

17, 18. Thou hast well said, I have no husband, or rather, husband I have not, with an emphasis on husband, which is marked in the Greek by its position in the sentence, as reproduced by Christ.

Thou hast had five husbands. Though St. Chrys. and Mald. think that there is question, not of husbands, but of paramours, the common opinion, and certainly the obvious one, is that husbands are spoken of. It is not necessary to suppose that the husbands made room for one another by death, for she may have been divorced by several of them. See Deut. xxiv. 1, 2; Matt. xix. 3.

19. Dicit ei mulier: Domine, video quia propheta es tu.19. The woman saith to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

19. A prophet; i.e., here, as elsewhere frequently, one [pg 080] who has supernatural knowledge, who knows things which are naturally hidden from him. In these words the poor woman confesses her own guilt and the exalted character of Christ, whom, however, she does not yet recognise as “The Prophet,” the Messias, but only as a prophet.

20. Patres nostri in monte hoc adoraverunt, et vos dicitis, quia Ierosolymis est locus ubi adorare oportet.20. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.