The Ruined Loincloth

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and ^(A)put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” ² So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³ And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴ “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, ^(B)go to the Euphrates and hide it there in ^(C)a cleft of the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶ And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there ^(D)the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took ^(E)the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ^(F)spoiled; it was ^(G)good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “Thus says the Lord: ^(H)Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great ^(I)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, ^(J)who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ^(K)good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ^(L)that they might be for me a people, ^(M)a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The Jars Filled with Wine

¹² “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that ^(N)every jar will be filled with wine?’ ¹³ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(O)Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: ^(P)the kings who sit on David's throne, ^(Q)the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And I will ^(R)dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

Exile Threatened

Jesus at the Feast of Booths

7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because ^(A)the Jews^[a] were seeking to kill him. ² Now ^(B)the Jews' Feast of ^(C)Booths was at hand. ^3 (D)So his brothers^[b] said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. ⁴ For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, ^(E)show yourself to the world.” ^5 (F)For not even ^(G)his brothers believed in him. ⁶ Jesus said to them, ^(H)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but ^(I)it hates me because I testify about it that ^(J)its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to the feast. I am not^[c] going up to this feast, for ^(K)my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰ But after ^(L)his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. ^11 (M)The Jews ^(N)were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was much ^(O)muttering about him among the people. ^(P)While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, ^(Q)he is leading the people astray.” ¹³ Yet ^(R)for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

¹⁴ About the middle of the feast Jesus went up ^(S)into the temple and began teaching. ¹⁵ The Jews therefore ^(T)marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,^[d] when he has never studied?” ¹⁶ So Jesus answered them, ^(U)“My teaching is not mine, but his ^(V)who sent me. ^17 (W)If anyone's will is to do God's^[e] will, ^(X)he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I ^(Y)am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own authority ^(Z)seeks 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 (AA)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^(AB)Why do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, ^(AC)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did ^(AD)one work, and you all marvel at it. ^22 (AE)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^(AF)from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^(AG)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? ^24 (AH)Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Can This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom ^(AI)they seek to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, ^(AJ)speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^(AK)the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷ But ^(AL)we know ^(AM)where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, ^(AN)no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, ^(AO)as he taught in the temple, ^(AP)“You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^(AQ)I have not come of my own accord. ^(AR)He who sent me is true, ^(AS)and him you do not know. ^29 (AT)I know him, for I come ^(AU)from him, and ^(AV)he sent me.” ^30 (AW)So they were seeking to arrest him, but ^(AX)no one laid a hand on him, ^(AY)because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet ^(AZ)many of the people believed in him. They said, ^(BA)“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd ^(BB)muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent ^(BC)officers to arrest him. ³³ Jesus then said, ^(BD)“I will be with you a little longer, and then ^(BE)I am going to him who sent me. ^34 (BF)You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^(BG)Does he intend to go to ^(BH)the Dispersion among ^(BI)the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ^(BJ)‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

^37 (BK)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^(BL)“If anyone thirsts, let him ^(BM)come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, ^(BN)as^[f] the Scripture has said, ^(BO)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^(BP)living water.’” ³⁹ Now ^(BQ)this he said about the Spirit, ^(BR)whom those who believed in him were to receive, ^(BS)for as yet the Spirit had not been ^(BT)given, ^(BU)because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(BV)some of the people said, “This really is ^(BW)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(BX)the Christ.” But some said, ^(BY)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(BZ)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(CA)from Bethlehem, the village ^(CB)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(CC)a division among the people over him. ^44 (CD)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45 (CE)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(CF)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(CG)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (CH)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (CI)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (CJ)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(CK)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(CL)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(CM)no prophet arises from Galilee.”

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]^[g]

The Woman Caught in Adultery

⁵³ [[They went each to his own house,