Sychar

Sychar was a village in Samaria near the plot of ground Jacob gave to Joseph, beside Jacob's well at the foot of Mount Gerizim. There Jesus held one of the Gospels' most remarkable conversations.

The woman at the well

"Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar... Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore... sat thus on the well" (John 4:5–6). He asked a Samaritan woman for water and offered her "living water... springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:10–14).

"I that speak unto thee am he"

He revealed her life, spoke of true worship "in spirit and in truth," and disclosed himself as the Messiah — "I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:26). She left her waterpot and called the town.

A Samaritan harvest

"Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him" and pressed him to stay; after two days they confessed, "this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" (John 4:39–42).

Sychar is usually located near the village of Askar by Mount Ebal and Gerizim, close to Shechem. Jacob's well — a deep, genuinely ancient well at the site — is still shown to visitors within a church, one of the most securely identified of all Gospel locations.