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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John 7: ESV
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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John 7
7
1After this, Jesus spent his time going from place to place in Galilee. He did not want to do so in Judea because the Jews were out to kill him. 2But as it was almost time for the Jewish festival of the Tabernacles, 3his brothers told him, “You ought to leave and go to Judea so your followers will be able to see what miracles you can do. 4No one who wants to be famous keeps what they do hidden. If you can do such miracles, then show yourself to the world!” 5For even his own brothers really didn't believe in him.
6Jesus told them, “This is not my time to go, not yet; but you can go whenever you want, for any time's the right time for you. 7The world has no reason to hate you, but it does hate me, because I make it clear that its ways are evil. 8You go on to the festival. I'm not going to this festival because this is not the right time for me, not yet.” 9After saying this he stayed behind in Galilee.
10After his brothers left to go to the festival, Jesus also went, but not openly—he stayed out of sight. 11Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were searching for him and kept on asking, “Where is he?” 12Many people in the crowds were complaining about him. Some said, “He's a good man,” while others argued, “No! He deceives people.” 13But no one dared to speak openly about him because they were afraid of what the Jewish leaders would do to them.
14When the festival was halfway through, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach. 15The Jewish leaders were very surprised, and asked, “How does this man have so much learning#7:15. In the sense of religious education. when he hasn't been educated?”
16Jesus answered, “My teaching is not from me but from the one who sent me. 17Anyone who chooses to follow what God wants will know if my teaching comes from God or if I'm only speaking for myself. 18Those who speak for themselves want to glorify themselves, but someone who glorifies the one who sent him is truthful and not deceitful. 19Moses gave you the law, didn't he? Yet none of you keeps the law! Why are you trying to kill me?”
20“You're demon-possessed!” the crowd replied. “No one's trying to kill you!”
21“I did one miracle#7:21. On the Sabbath, referring back to what happened in 5:1-9. and you're all shocked by it,” Jesus replied. 22“However, because Moses told you to circumcise—not that it really came from Moses, but from your forefathers before him—you perform circumcision on the Sabbath. 23If you circumcise on the Sabbath to make sure that the law of Moses isn't broken, why are you angry with me for healing someone on the Sabbath? 24Don't judge by appearances; decide what is right!”
25Then some of those from Jerusalem began wondering, “Isn't this the one they're trying to kill? 26But see how openly he's speaking, and they're saying nothing to him. Do you think the authorities believe he's the Messiah? 27But that's not possible because we know where he comes from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he's from.”
28While he was teaching in the Temple, Jesus called out in a loud voice, “So you think you know me and where I'm from? However, I did not come for my own sake. The one who sent me is true. You don't know him, 29but I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
30So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. 31However, many of the crowd did put their trust in him. “When the Messiah appears, will he do more miraculous signs than this man has done?” they said. 32When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering this about him, they and the chief priests sent guards to arrest Jesus.
33Then Jesus told the people, “I'll be with you just a little longer, but then I'll return to the one who sent me. 34You'll search for me but you won't find me; and you can't come where I'm going.”
35The Jews said to each other, “Where could he be going that we couldn't find him? Is he planning to go to those scattered among the foreigners,#7:35. Literally, “Greeks.” and teach the foreigners? 36What does he mean by saying, ‘You'll search for me but you won't find me; and you can't come where I'm going’?”
37On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted out in a loud voice, “If you're thirsty, come to me and drink. 38If you trust in me, you will have streams of life-giving water flowing out from within you, as Scripture says.”#7:38. The closest reference appears to be Song of Songs 4:15. 39He was referring to the Spirit that those who trusted in him would later receive. The Spirit hadn't been given yet because Jesus hadn't yet been glorified.
40When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This man is definitely the Prophet!”#7:40. See 6:14. 41Others said, “He is the Messiah!” Still others said, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42Doesn't Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David's lineage, and from David's home town of Bethlehem?”#7:42. Referring to Micah 5:2. 43So the crowd had a strong difference of opinion about him. 44Some wanted to arrest him, but nobody laid a hand on him.
45Then the guards returned to the chief priests and the Pharisees who asked them, “Why didn't you bring him in?”
46“Nobody ever spoke like this man does,” the guards replied.
47“Have you been fooled too?” the Pharisees asked them. 48“Has a single one of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? No! 49But this crowd knows nothing about teachings of the law—they're damned anyway!”
50Nicodemus, who had previously gone to meet Jesus, was one of them and asked them, 51“Does our law condemn a man without a hearing and without finding out what he actually did?”
52“So you're a Galilean as well, are you?” they replied. “Check the Scriptures and you'll discover that no prophet comes from Galilee!” 53Then they all went home,#7:53. The following section (7:53-8:11) does not appear in this location in all manuscripts. However, it surely represents an authentic account.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com