John 4:34
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Jesus said to them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Jesus said to them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Jesus said, My food is to do the pleasure of him who sent me and to make his work complete.
Webster's Revision
Jesus saith to them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
World English Bible
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.
Definitions for John 4:34
Clarke's John 4:34 Bible Commentary
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me - In these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and earnestness to his apostles, and to all their successors in the Christian ministry. Let the salvation of souls lie nearer your heart than life itself. Let eating and drinking, labor and rest, reading, thinking, study, prayer, and all things, be directed to the accomplishment of this great work. Ministers of Jesus! imitate your Lord! Souls are perishing for lack of knowledge - God has given you the key of the kingdom, the knowledge of his word - O open unto them the gate of life! They are dropping by thousands into hell! O pluck the brands out of the burning!
Barnes's John 4:34 Bible Commentary
My meat ... - Jesus here explains what he said in John 4:32. His great object - the great design of his life - was to do the will of God. He came to that place weary and thirsty, and at the usual time of meals, probably hungry; yet an opportunity of doing good presented itself, and he forgot his fatigue and hunger, and found comfort and joy in doing good - in seeking to save a soul. This one great object absorbed all his powers, and made him forget his weariness and the wants of nature. The mind may be so absorbed in doing the will of God as to forget all other things. Intent on this, we may rise above fatigue, and hardship, and want, and bear all with pleasure in seeing the work of God advance. See Job 23:12; "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necesary food." We may learn, also, that the main business of life is not to avoid fatigue or to seek the supply of our temporal wants, but to do the will of God. The mere supply of our temporal necessities, though most people make it an object of their chief solicitude, is a small consideration in the sight of him who has just views of the great design of human life.
The will of him that sent me - The will of God in regard to the salvation of men. See John 6:38.
To finish his work - To "complete" or fully to do the work which he has commanded in regard to the salvation of men. It is his work to provide salvation, and his to redeem, and his to apply the salvation to the heart. Jesus came to do it by teaching, by his example, and by his death as an expiation for sin. And he shows us that "we" should be diligent. If he was so diligent for our welfare, if he bore fatigue and want to benefit us, then we should be diligent, also, in regard to our own salvation, and also in seeking the salvation of others.
Wesley's John 4:34 Bible Commentary
4:34 My meat - That which satisfies the strongest appetite of my soul.