Jacob's Well

Jacob's Well. A well named after the patriarch Jacob.

No direct references are made to this well in the OT. However, according to the tradition, Jacob dug it on the land he bought from the children of Hamor for one hundred pieces of money (Gen 33:19; cf. John 4:12). The only biblical text mentioning this well is John 4:6, which locates it in Samaria, "near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." Well attested is the fact that this location was after the conquest given to the tribes of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh (Josh 24:32; Gen 48:21-22).

According to John 4, Jesus stopped at Jacob's well to rest and at this place He met the Samaritan woman. The well was about 100 feet deep (about 30 m.) and there was nothing to fetch water with. Jesus used this occasion to offer the woman "living water" from which the one who drinks will never thirst again (John 4:10-12; cf. 7:37).

The location of the well has been associated with Bir Ya'aqûb at the base of Mount Gerizim near Tell Balâṭah (cf. John 4:20). Today it is found under a Greek Orthodox Church building, at the location where in 1881 archeologists discovered a stone nearby that is believed to be a cover of the well. A church was built on this location in AD 380 and was probably destroyed by the Samaritans in AD 529.