John 7

Jesus Teaches at the Feast

1 After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews [there] were trying to kill Him. 2 However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near. 3 So [Jesus’] brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples [there] may see [the] works You are doing. 4 For no one [who] wants to be [known] publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For [even] His [own] brothers did {not} believe in Him. 6 Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time {has} not yet come. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil. 8 Go up to the feast on your own. I {am} not ▼

▼NE, WH, BYZ and TR I am not yet

going up to this feast, because My time {has} not yet come.” 9 Having said [this] , [Jesus] remained in Galilee. 10 But [after] His brothers had gone up to the feast, He also went— not publicly, but in secret. 11 So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and asking, “Where is He?” 12 Many in the crowds were whispering about Him. Some said, “He is a good [man] .” But others replied, “No, He deceives the people.” 13 Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the Jews. 14 About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed [and] asked, “How {did} this [man] attain [such] learning without having studied?” 16 “My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “ [It comes] from Him who sent Me. 17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether [My] teaching is from God or [whether] I speak on My own. 18 He who speaks on his own [authority] seeks [his] own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the [One who] sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood. 19 {Has} not Moses given you the Law? Yet not one of you keeps [it] . Why are you trying to kill Me?” 20 “You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22 [But] because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on [the] Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.) 23 If a boy can be circumcised on [the] Sabbath so that the Law of Moses {will} not be broken, [why] are you angry with Me for making [the] whole man well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by outward appearances, [and start] judging justly.”

Is Jesus the Christ?

25 Then some of the [people] of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this [the man] they are trying to kill? 26 Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying [anything] to Him. {Have} the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this [man] is {from} . When the Christ comes, no one will know where He is {from} .” 28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am {from} . I have not come on My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You {do} not know Him, 29 but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.” 30 So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour {had} not yet come. 31 Many in the crowd, however, believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He perform more signs than this [man] ?” 32 [When] the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about [Jesus] , [they] and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him. 33 So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the [One who] sent Me. 34 You will look for Me, [but] you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where {does} He intend to go that we will not find Him vvv? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, [but] you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Living Water

37 On the last [and] greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from [within] him.’” 39 He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For [the] Spirit had not yet [been given] , because Jesus {had} not yet been glorified.

Division Regarding Jesus

40 On hearing these words, [some] of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.” 41 Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “ [How can] the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 43 So there was division in the crowd because of [Jesus] . 44 Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, [who] asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him {in} ?” 46 “Never {has} anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered. 47 “ {Have} you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees. 48 “ {Have} any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the Law, they are under a curse.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to [Jesus] earlier, [and who himself] was one of them, asked, 51 “ {Does} our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?” 52 “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.” ▼

▼Some early manuscripts do not include John 7:53 to 8:11

53 Then each went to his own home.