SYCHAR

(Syʹchar).

A city of Samaria and the site of Jacob’s fountain. It was “near the field that Jacob gave to Joseph his son” in the vicinity of Shechem. (John 4:5, 6; compare Joshua 24:32.) The Syriac Sinaitic codex has “Shechem” instead of “Sychar.” However, the best Greek manuscripts support the reading “Sychar.” Certain early non-Biblical writers distinguish between Shechem and Sychar; others do not. Some today who separate the two identify Sychar with the village of ʽAskar, about one-half mile (c. 1 kilometer) N of Jacob’s fountain and about the same distance NE of the apparent location of ancient Shechem.