John 7
7
Jesus Goes to the Feast of Booths
1After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He didn’t want to travel around in Judea. That was because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2The Jewish Feast of Booths was near. 3Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea. Then your disciples there will see the works that you do. 4No one who wants to be well known does things in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5Even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in him.
6So Jesus told them, “The time for me to show who I really am is not here yet. For you, any time would be the right time. 7The people of the world can’t hate you. But they hate me. This is because I am a witness that their works are evil. 8You go to the feast. I am not going up to this feast. This is because my time has not yet fully come.” 9After he said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10But when his brothers had left for the feast, he went also. But he went secretly, not openly. 11At the feast the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus. They were asking, “Where is he?”
12Many people in the crowd were whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”
Others replied, “No. He fools the people.” 13But no one would say anything about him openly. They were afraid of the leaders.
Jesus Teaches at the Feast
14Jesus did nothing until halfway through the feast. Then he went up to the temple courtyard and began to teach. 15The Jews there were amazed. They asked, “How did this man learn so much without being taught?”
16Jesus answered, “What I teach is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17Here is how someone can find out whether my teaching comes from God or from me. That person must choose to do what God wants them to do. 18Whoever speaks on their own does it to get personal honor. But someone who works for the honor of the one who sent him is truthful. Nothing about him is false. 19Didn’t Moses give you the law? But not one of you obeys the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20“You are controlled by demons,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22Moses gave you circumcision, and so you circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. But circumcision did not really come from Moses. It came from Abraham. 23You circumcise a boy on the Sabbath day. You think that if you do, you won’t break the law of Moses. Then why are you angry with me? I healed a man’s entire body on the Sabbath day! 24Stop judging only by what you see. Judge in the right way.”
People Don’t Agree About Who Jesus Is
25Then some of the people of Jerusalem began asking questions. They said, “Isn’t this the man some people are trying to kill? 26Here he is! He is speaking openly. They aren’t saying a word to him. Have the authorities really decided that he is the Messiah? 27But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28Jesus was still teaching in the temple courtyard. He cried out, “Yes, you know me. And you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority. The one who sent me is true. You do not know him. 29But I know him. I am from him, and he sent me.”
30When he said this, they tried to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him. The time for him to show who he really was had not yet come. 31Still, many people in the crowd believed in him. They said, “How will it be when the Messiah comes? Will he do more signs than this man?”
32The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering things like this about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time. Then I will go to the one who sent me. 34You will look for me, but you won’t find me. You can’t come where I am going.”
35The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man plan to go? Does he think we can’t find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks? Will he go there to teach the Greeks? 36What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me’? And what did he mean when he said, ‘You can’t come where I am going’?”
37It was the last and most important day of the feast. Jesus stood up and spoke in a loud voice. He said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38Does anyone believe in me? Then, just as Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from inside them.” 39When he said this, he meant the Holy Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit later. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given. This was because Jesus had not yet received glory.
40The people heard his words. Some of them said, “This man must be the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”
41Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the family line of David? Doesn’t it say that he will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43So the people did not agree about who Jesus was. 44Some wanted to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him.
The Jewish Leaders Do Not Believe
45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees. They asked the guards, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47“You mean he has fooled you also?” the Pharisees asked. 48“Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob knows nothing about the law. There is a curse on them.”
50Then Nicodemus, a Pharisee, spoke. He was the one who had gone to Jesus earlier. He asked, 51“Does our law find a man guilty without hearing him first? Doesn’t it want to find out what he is doing?”
52They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Look into it. You will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
53Then they all went home.
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John 7: NIrV
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John 7
7
Jesus at the Feast of Booths
1After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because #ch. 5:18; 8:37, 40; 11:53the Jews#7:1 Or Judeans; Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time were seeking to kill him. 2Now #ch. 5:1; 6:4 the Jews’ Feast of #See Lev. 23:34Booths was at hand. 3#ver. 5, 10; See Matt. 12:46So his brothers#7:3 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10 said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, #[ch. 14:22; 18:20]show yourself to the world.” 5#[Matt. 13:57; Mark 3:21] For not even #ver. 3, 10his brothers believed in him. 6Jesus said to them, #[ver. 8, 30]; See ch. 2:4“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7The world cannot hate you, but #ch. 15:18, 24 it hates me because I testify about it that #ch. 3:19; [Col. 1:21; 1 John 3:12]its works are evil. 8You go up to the feast. I am not#7:8 Some manuscripts add yet going up to this feast, for #See ch. 2:4my time has not yet fully come.” 9After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10But after #ver. 3, 5his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11#ver. 1 The Jews #ch. 11:56were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12And there was much #ver. 32 muttering about him among the people. #[ver. 40-43] While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, #ver. 47he is leading the people astray.” 13Yet #ch. 19:38; 20:19; [ch. 9:22; 12:42]for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14About the middle of the feast Jesus went up #ver. 28into the temple and began teaching. 15The Jews therefore #[ver. 46; Luke 2:47; 4:22; Acts 4:13]marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,#7:15 Or this man knows his letters when he has never studied?” 16So Jesus answered them, #ch. 8:28; 12:49; 14:10, 24; [ch. 3:34] “My teaching is not mine, but his #See ch. 3:17who sent me. 17#[ch. 8:31, 32; 14:21, 23] If anyone’s will is to do God’s#7:17 Greek his will, #[ch. 8:43; Ps. 25:9; Dan. 12:10; Phil. 3:15] he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I #See ch. 5:30am speaking on my own authority. 18The one who speaks on his own authority #ch. 5:41; 8:50seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19#ver. 23; See ch. 1:17 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. #ver. 1Why do you seek to kill me?” 20The crowd answered, #ch. 8:48, 52; 10:20; [Matt. 11:18; Mark 3:22; Luke 7:33]“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21Jesus answered them, “I did #ver. 23; ch. 5:2-9one work, and you all marvel at it. 22#Lev. 12:3 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but #Gen. 17:10from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, #ch. 5:16; See Matt. 12:2are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24#ch. 8:15; [Isa. 11:3; 2 Cor. 10:7]; See Deut. 1:16, 17Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Can This Be the Christ?
25Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom #ver. 1they seek to kill? 26And here he is, #ch. 18:20 speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that #ver. 48the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27But #[ch. 6:42; 8:14, 19; 9:29] we know #ch. 19:9 where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, #[ver. 42]no one will know where he comes from.” 28So Jesus proclaimed, #ver. 14 as he taught in the temple, #[See ver. 27 above] “You know me, and you know where I come from. But #ch. 8:42; [ch. 5:43] I have not come of my own accord. #See ch. 8:26 He who sent me is true, #ch. 8:19; 15:21; [ch. 4:22; 8:55]and him you do not know. 29#ch. 8:55; See Matt. 11:27 I know him, for I come #ch. 6:46; 9:16, 33; [ch. 1:14] from him, and #See ch. 3:17he sent me.” 30#ver. 44; ch. 10:39; [Matt. 21:46] So they were seeking to arrest him, but #ch. 8:20 no one laid a hand on him, #ver. 6because his hour had not yet come. 31Yet #ch. 8:30; 10:42; 11:45; 12:11; [ch. 2:23; 12:42; Matt. 21:11] many of the people believed in him. They said, #Matt. 12:23“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus
32The Pharisees heard the crowd #ver. 12 muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent #ver. 45, 46officers to arrest him. 33Jesus then said, #ch. 12:35; 13:33; 14:19; 16:16-19 “I will be with you a little longer, and then #ch. 16:5I am going to him who sent me. 34#ch. 8:21; 13:33You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? #[ch. 8:22] Does he intend to go to #James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1; [Isa. 11:12; Zeph. 3:10] the Dispersion among #ch. 12:20the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36What does he mean by saying, #ver. 34‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water
37 #
Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35; Neh. 8:18 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, #Isa. 55:1; See ch. 4:14 “If anyone thirsts, let him #See ch. 6:35come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, #[Isa. 12:3; Ezek. 47:1] as#7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, #ch. 4:14; [Prov. 18:4] ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of #See ch. 4:10living water.’” 39Now #Isa. 44:3; [1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:14] this he said about the Spirit, #Joel 2:28; Acts 2:16-18; [ch. 1:33; 20:22; Luke 24:49] whom those who believed in him were to receive, #Acts 2:4, 33 for as yet the Spirit had not been #ch. 3:34; Luke 11:13 given, #ch. 14:16, 17; 16:7because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Division Among the People
40When they heard these words, #See ver. 31 some of the people said, “This really is #ch. 1:21; 6:14; See Matt. 21:11the Prophet.” 41Others said, “This is #ver. 26 the Christ.” But some said, #[ver. 52; ch. 1:46]“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes #[Ps. 89:3, 4]; See Matt. 1:1 from the offspring of David, and comes #Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:1, 5; Luke 2:4 from Bethlehem, the village #1 Sam. 16:1where David was?” 43So there was #ch. 9:16; 10:19; [ver. 12]a division among the people over him. 44#ver. 30Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 # ver. 32 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46The officers answered, #See Matt. 7:29“No one ever spoke like this man!” 47The Pharisees answered them, #ver. 12“Have you also been deceived? 48#1 Cor. 1:20, 26; 2:8; [ch. 12:42]Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50#ch. 3:1; 19:39Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51#Deut. 17:6; 19:15; [Acts 23:3] “Does our law judge a man without first #Deut. 1:16; Prov. 18:13giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52They replied, #ver. 41 “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that #[2 Kgs. 14:25 with Josh. 19:13]no prophet arises from Galilee.”
[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] # 7:53 Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text
The Woman Caught in Adultery
53[[They went each to his own house,
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