John chapter 4

vs 11

She doesn't really know what he means by this "living water" - she sees he doesn't have a way of drawing water from the well, so she is suspicious.

vs 12

She also might have thought that he was making some sort of Jewish quip at her, and so she throws in this comment about Jacob, who the Samaritans said was their father. I don't think she's being rude, but the offer he has made is an odd one, and she's not quite sure where he's going with it.

vs 13-14

The 'water' Jesus is offering is eternal life, it's not really water at all. Christians are still thirsty for regular water, but there will be a time when we will live out eternity without such thirsts. But even in expressing this, Jesus is still a little mysterious. Of course, there was probably more of this conversation, but John only includes what he thinks is necessary to get his point across.

vs 15

Now, has she misunderstood, or is she again making another quip? Jesus knows that if she becomes a Christian, she will still have to come and draw water from this well. Does she understand that, and so is calling him out on his mysterious expression (I'm sure she knows full well that Jews still drink water), or does she simply not understand, and so requests this water to save her weary feet?

vs 16

Jesus now starts his revelation of who he really is. He has basically told her (he has told her he can give her eternal life), but now he sets out to show her who he is. He does this by showing how much he knows about her (same thing he did with Nathanael).

His question also shows that it is a natural assumption that all people will be married, and that the 'natural' state of your average adult in the ancient Middle East was married.

vs 17-vs 18

Her reply is truthful, but still dodging the truth. Jesus calls her on it, though. He then shows how he knows impossible things about her, and uses it to point out that while she was telling the truth in a legalistic way, she knows full well that she does have a man, and that she is not a "good woman" in that she has a non-marriage relationship and lied to Jesus; perhaps not a lie in the exact truth of the situation, but only a half-truth.

vs 19

This is enough, this show of knowledge, to convince her that he is a prophet. Jesus did so much stuff, and most people wouldn't even accept him as a prophet, let alone the Son of God.

vs 20

So she asks him a question. It's not really framed as a question - it is more of an accusatory statement about the Jews, and about him as a Jewish prophet. It's hard to tell what her attitude was to Jesus throughout this conversation - has it always been touched with an edge of icy coldness, or is it a more simple, straightforward conversation than that? Hard to tell, but we certainly can't discount the coolness of relations between Samaritans and Jews generally.