John 4:30

Joh 4:30. Ἐξῆλθον, they went out) They readily assented to the woman, or [some perhaps] even left their dinner. Others might have thought it beneath them, so readily to go forth from their home and their city gate. [And they would have had many objections which, not without show of reason, they might have started; Was it to be thought likely, that precisely at that point of time, and in that very place, the Messiah, so long expected, has appeared to such a woman?—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 4:30 . ἐξῆλθον οὖν … πρὸς αὐτόν . The men, moved by the woman’s question, left the city and were coming to Jesus.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then they went out, &c.--How different from the Jews! and richly was their openness to conviction rewarded.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 30. They went out of the city] Such effect had the simple testimony of the woman on their minds.

And came unto him.] Or, Were coming to him; for they did not reach him immediately; all that discourse between him and his disciples, mentioned Joh 4:31-39, inclusive, having taken place before the people of Sychar got to the well. See Joh 4:40.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(30) Came unto him.—Literally, were coming unto Him. They were still on the way when the conversation in Joh_4:31-38 took place. The general expectation of the Messiah, and the receptive spirit of the Samaritans, is shown in her alacrity to go and tell the men of the place, and in their desire at once to see Him for themselves. Many, indeed, were convinced by her statement only (Joh_4:39-40).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. went out … and came] Literally, went out … and were coming. The change of tense from aorist to imperfect gives vividness. We are to see them coming along across the fields as we listen to the conversation that follows, 31–38.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then they went out of the city,.... "The men", as the Syriac version expresses it; the inhabitants of Sychar left their business, and came out of the city:

and came unto him; to Christ, to see him, and converse with him, that they might know who he was: for though the woman had been a woman of ill fame, yet such was the account that she gave of Christ, and such power went along with her words, that what with the strangeness of the relation, and the curiosity with which they were led, and chiefly through the efficacy of divine grace, at least in many of them, they were moved to regard what she said, and to follow her directions and solicitations.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

Ver. 30. Then they went out] More to see the news than else; as Moses’ curiosity led him nearer the bush, wherehence he was called. It is good to come to the ordinances, though but for novelty; absence is without hope. What a deal lost Thomas by being out of the way but once.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They went out of the city - The men of the city left it and went to Jesus, to hear and examine for themselves.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sitting still at the well, they (many of them at least) did not contemn the news as the relation of a woman, but went (possibly but out of curiosity) to see and to hear this man.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. They went out of the city— There must have been power in the woman’s words and influence in her character, to send these men on their mission to this Messias.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They went outof the city, and were coming on their way towards him. The vividness of the picture is remarkable, and is made more so by observing the tense of hrconto . The men were already crossing the green fields that lay between Sychar and Jacob"s well. This remarkable touch explains the conversation that immediately follows. We have the twofold scene depicted: on the one side, the disciples eager for their meal, and absorbed for the moment with thoughts of "terrene provender," unconscious of the vast yearnings of their Lord, and his passion for the regeneration and saving of men; and on the other side, the immediate effect, produced neither by signs nor wonders, but by his word only, on a few susceptible souls, who appeared to him living representatives and firstfruits of a redeemed humanity.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. ἐξῆλθον … ἤρχοντο. Went out … were coming (comp. Joh 4:27): the single act (aorist) is contrasted with what took some time (imperf.). see on Joh 11:29. We are to see them coming across the fields as we listen to the conversation that follows (31–38).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30.] ἤρχοντο—were coming,—had not arrived, when what follows happened.

31,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. We have seen above (v. 25) that the Samaritans had Messianic hopes. The men of Sychar were so much impressed by what the woman told them that they left the village and “were coming” (ἤρχοντο) to Him. The impft. tense is used as indicating that they were on their way while the conversation between Jesus and His disciples which follows was being carried on.

The rec. text has οὖν after ἐξῆλθον, which is rejected by ABLΓΔΘ. But אNW have it, and it would be quite in Jn.’s style. The omission of οὖν by a scribe after ἐξῆλθον would be a natural slip, εξηλθονου passing into εξηλθον.

The redundant ἐξῆλθον ἐκ occurs again 8:42, 59, 10:39, 1Jn 2:19; and cf. 18:29.

Discourse with the Disciples (Vv. 31-38)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then. Omit.

Went out - came unto Him [εξηλθον - ηρχοντο προς αυτον] . Went out is the aorist tense, denoting the coming forth from the city as a single act at a point of time. Came is the imperfect, denoting action in progress. The observance of the distinction makes the narrative more graphic. They were coming. Unto should be toward [προς] . The imperfect also is required by the following words : "In the mean while" (while the woman was still absent and the Samaritans were coming toward Him) "the disciples were praying" Him to eat. This last imperfect is overlooked by the Rev..

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 30. “They went out of the city, and were coming towards him.”

The Samaritans, gathered by her, arrive in large numbers. The imperfect, they were coming, contrasted with the aorist, they went out, forms a picture; we see them hastening across the fields which separate Sychar from Jacob’s well. This historical detail gives the key to Jesus’ words, which are to follow. The therefore must be rejected from the text; the attention is wholly turned to thethey were coming, which follows.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.