耶稣的弟弟不信祂

之后,耶稣周游加利利,不愿去犹太地区,因为犹太人想要杀祂。 犹太人的住棚节快到了, 耶稣的弟弟们对祂说:“离开这里,去犹太过节吧,好让你的门徒在那里也看见你所做的啊! 因为人想出名,都不会暗地里行事,你既然可以做这些事,就把自己显给世人看吧!” 原来连祂的弟弟们也不信祂。

耶稣对他们说:“我的时候还没有到,你们什么时候都很方便。 世人不会恨你们,只会恨我,因为我指证他们行为邪恶。 你们先去过节吧,我现在还不上去,因为我的时候还没有到。” 耶稣说完这些话,仍留在加利利。

耶稣过住棚节

10 他们走了以后,耶稣避开了人们的注意,暗地里上去过节。 11 节期到了,犹太人到处查问:“耶稣在哪里?”

12 众人对祂议论纷纷,有些人说:“祂是好人,”有些说:“不,祂欺骗民众。” 13 不过,没有人敢公开议论祂的事,因为害怕犹太人。

14 节期约过了一半,耶稣来到圣殿教导人。 15 犹太人感到惊奇,说:“这个人没有受过教育,怎么懂得这么多呢?”

16 耶稣说:“我的教导不是出于我自己,而是出于差我来的那位。 17 如果你们愿意遵行上帝的旨意,就能分辨这些教导是出于上帝,还是出于我自己。 18 凭自己讲论的人是要寻求自己的荣耀,但人子真实无伪,毫无不义,祂是为了使差祂来的那位得荣耀。 19 摩西不是把律法传给了你们吗?你们却没有一个人遵守。为什么想要杀我呢?”

20 众人回答说:“你一定是被鬼附身了!谁要杀你啊?”

21 耶稣说:“我行了一件神迹,你们都感到惊奇。 22 摩西把割礼传给你们,你们也在安息日行割礼。其实割礼不是摩西定的,而是从祖先们的时代就有了。 23 为了避免违背摩西的律法,行割礼的那一天就算是安息日,你们还是照行。那么,我在安息日使一个病人完全康复,你们为什么责怪我呢? 24 不要根据外表来断定是非,要按公义的原则判断。”

耶稣是基督吗

25 有些住在耶路撒冷的人说:“这不是他们要杀的那个人吗? 26 你看祂这样公开讲道,居然没有人说什么,难道官长也真的认为祂是基督吗? 27 可是基督来的时候,根本没有人知道祂从哪里来,我们却知道这个人是从哪里来的。”

28 于是,耶稣在圣殿里高声教导人说:“你们知道我是谁,也知道我是从哪里来的。其实我来不是出于自己的意思,差我来的那位是真实的,你们不认识祂。 29 但我认识祂,因为我是从祂那里来的,差我来的就是祂。” 30 他们听了,想捉拿耶稣,只是没有人下手,因为祂的时候还没有到。

31 人群中有许多人信了耶稣,他们说:“基督来的时候所行的神迹,难道会比这个人行得更多吗?”

32 法利赛人听见众人这样议论耶稣,就联合祭司长派差役去抓祂。 33 耶稣对众人说:“我暂时还会跟你们在一起,不久我要回到差我来的那位那里。 34 那时你们要找我却找不到,你们也不能去我所在的地方。”

35 犹太人彼此议论说:“祂要去哪里使我们找不着呢?难道祂要到我们犹太人侨居的希腊各地去教导希腊人吗? 36 祂说我们找不到祂,又不能去祂所在的地方,是什么意思?”

活水的江河

37 节期最后一天,也是整个节期的高潮,耶稣站起来高声说:“人若渴了,可以到我这里来喝。 38 正如圣经所言,信我的人,‘从他里面要流出活水的江河来’。” 39 耶稣这话是指信祂的人要得到圣灵,但当时圣灵还没有降临,因为耶稣还没有得到荣耀。

40 听见这些话后,有些人说:“祂真是那位先知。” 41 也有些人说:“祂是基督。”还有些人说:“不会吧,基督怎么会出自加利利呢? 42 圣经上不是说基督是大卫的后裔,要降生在大卫的故乡伯利恒吗?” 43 众人因为对耶稣的看法不同,就起了纷争。 44 有些人想抓祂,只是没有人下手。

犹太官长不信耶稣

45 祭司长和法利赛人看见差役空手回来,就问:“你们为什么不把祂带来呢?”

46 差役答道:“从未有人像祂那样说话!”

47 法利赛人说:“难道你们也被祂迷惑了吗? 48 哪有官长和法利赛人信祂呢? 49 这群不明白律法的民众该受咒诅!”

50 曾经夜访耶稣、属于他们当中一员的尼哥德慕说: 51 “难道不听被告申辩,不查明事实真相,我们的律法就定祂的罪吗?”

52 他们回答说:“难道你也是加利利人吗?你去查查看,就会知道没有先知是从加利利来的。”

Jesus’ Brothers Do Not Believe in Him

And after these things Jesus was going about in Galilee. For he did not want to go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the feast of the Jews—the feast of Tabernacles—was near. So his brothers said to him, “Depart from here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also can see your works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret and yet he himself desires to be publicly recognized.[a] If you are doing these things, reveal yourself to the world!” (For not even his brothers believed in him.)

Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles

So Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it, that its deeds are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not[b] going up to this feast, because my time is not yet completed.[c] And when he[d] had said these things, he remained in Galilee.

10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not openly, but (as it were) in secret. 11 So the Jews were looking for him at the feast, and were saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was a lot of grumbling concerning him among the crowds; some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others were saying, “No, but he deceives the crowd.” 13 However, no one was speaking openly about him for fear of the Jews.

14 Now when the feast was already half over,[e] Jesus went to the temple courts[f] and began to teach.[g] 15 Then the Jews were astonished, saying, “How does this man possess knowledge,[h] because he[i] has not been taught?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but is from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know about my[j] teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking from myself. 18 The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law, and none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”

20 The crowd replied, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work, and you are all astonished. 22 Because of this Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses would not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole man well[k] on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to outward appearance, but judge according to righteous judgment!”

Is Jesus the Christ?

25 Then some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem began to say,[l] “Is this not the one whom they are seeking to kill? 26 And behold, he is speaking openly and they are saying nothing to him! Can it be that the rulers truly know that this man is the Christ? 27 Yet we know where this man is from, but the Christ, whenever he comes—no one knows where he is from!”

28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple courts,[m] teaching and saying, “You both know me and you know where I am from! And I have not come from myself, but the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know. 29 I know him, because I am from him and he sent me.”

30 So they were seeking to seize him, and no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 But from the crowd many believed in him and were saying, “Whenever the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than this man has done, will he?”[n]

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers in order to take him into custody .[o] 33 Then Jesus said, “Yet a little time I am with you, and I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will seek me and will not find me,[p][q] and where I am, you cannot come.”

35 So the Jews said to one another, “Where is this one going to go, that we will not find him? He is not going to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?[r] 36 What is this saying that he said, ‘You will seek me and will not find me,[s][t] and where I am, you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Spirit

37 Now on the last day of the feast—the great day—Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let him drink, 38 the one who believes in me.[u] Just as the scripture said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’”[v] 39 Now he said this concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given,[w] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

Different Opinions About Jesus

40 Then, when they[x] heard these words, some from the crowd began to say,[y] “This man is truly the Prophet!” 41 Others were saying, “This man is the Christ!” But others were saying, “No, for the Christ does not come from Galilee, does he?[z] 42 Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 And some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

45 So the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said to them, “Why[aa] did you not bring him?” 46 The officers replied, “Never has a man spoken like this!” 47 Then the Pharisees replied to them, “You have not also been deceived, have you?[ab] 48 None[ac] of the rulers or of the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?[ad] 49 But this crowd who does not know the law is accursed!”

50 Nicodemus, the one who came to him previously—who was one of them—said to them, 51 “Our law does not condemn a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?”[ae] 52 They answered and said to him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you?[af] Investigate and see that a prophet does not arise from Galilee!” [[53 And each one went to his own house.[ag]

Footnotes

  1. John 7:4 Literally “with openness”
  2. John 7:8 Most manuscripts read “not yet” here, but this is obviously an easier reading intended to reconcile the statement with Jesus’ later actions
  3. John 7:8 Or “fulfilled”
  4. John 7:9 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had said”) which is understood as temporal
  5. John 7:14 Literally “now it being already in the middle of the feast”
  6. John 7:14 Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
  7. John 7:14 *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to teach”)
  8. John 7:15 Literally “know letters”
  9. John 7:15 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“been taught”) which is understood as causal
  10. John 7:17 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  11. John 7:23 Or “a man entirely well”
  12. John 7:25 *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
  13. John 7:28 *Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
  14. John 7:31 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “will he
  15. John 7:32 Literally “that they could seize him”
  16. John 7:34 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  17. John 7:34 Some manuscripts explicitly state “me”
  18. John 7:35 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “is he
  19. John 7:36 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  20. John 7:36 Some manuscripts explicitly state “me”
  21. John 7:38 An alternative punctuation of vv. 37–38 reads: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and let him drink. 38  The one who believes in me, just as the scripture said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’”
  22. John 7:38 A quotation from the Old Testament of uncertain origin; texts most often suggested are Isa 44:3; 55:1; 58:11; Zech 14:8
  23. John 7:39 A few manuscripts supply the participle “given” here; while it is unlikely this represents the original reading, many English versions nevertheless supply “given” to avoid the impression that the Spirit did not exist prior to this point
  24. John 7:40 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
  25. John 7:40 *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
  26. John 7:41 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “does he
  27. John 7:45 Literally “because of what”
  28. John 7:47 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “have you
  29. John 7:48 Literally “not anyone”
  30. John 7:48 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “have they
  31. John 7:51 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “does it
  32. John 7:52 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “are you
  33. John 7:53 John 7:53–8:11 is not found in the earliest and best manuscripts and was almost certainly not an original part of the Gospel of John; one significant group of Greek manuscripts places it after Luke 21:38