¹⁰ However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. ¹¹ Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus^(A) and asking, “Where is he?”

¹² Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”^{(B) 13} But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.^(C)

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.^{(D) 15} The Jews^(E) there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning^(F) without having been taught?”^(G)

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^{(H) 17} Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(I) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,^(J) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law?^(K) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(L)

²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,”^(M) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(N) and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(O) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(P) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”^(Q)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

²⁵ At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?^{(R) 26} Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(S) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^(T)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”^(A)

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?^{(B) 42} Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants^(C) and from Bethlehem,^(D) the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided^(E) because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^(F)

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,”^(G) the guards replied.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?”^(H) the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?^{(I) 49} No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(J) who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”^(K)