The Greek antlēma (ἄντλημα) means a bucket or vessel used for drawing water from a well. Related to antleō (G501, to draw water), it appears only once in the New Testament (John 4:11), in the Samaritan woman's practical objection to Jesus's offer of "living water": "You have nothing to draw with [antlēma], and the well is deep." The word is entirely mundane — a bucket — but becomes the hinge-point of a magnificent theological dialogue.
The Samaritan woman's response to Jesus demonstrates the natural human tendency to interpret spiritual promises in material terms. When Jesus offers "living water," she thinks of spring water versus well water, and notes that he has no antlēma — no bucket — to reach the water at the bottom of Jacob's well. The very impossibility she identifies (no bucket + deep well = no water for you) is precisely what Jesus transcends: the living water He offers requires no bucket, no rope, no well. It springs up from within (John 4:14). The antlēma thus symbolizes human instrumentality — all the tools and methods humans devise to obtain what only God can freely give. Jesus renders the antlēma irrelevant by offering water that becomes a spring within the person themselves.