John 7:32-53

Christian Standard Bible

³² The Pharisees^(A) heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests^(B) and the Pharisees sent servants^[a] to arrest him.

³³ Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time.^(C) Then I’m going to the one who sent me.^{(D) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(E)

³⁵ Then the Jews^(F) said to one another, “Where does he intend to go that we won’t find him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Jewish people dispersed^[b](G) among the Greeks^(H) and teach the Greeks, does he? ³⁶ What is this remark he made: ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come’^(I)?”

The Promise of the Spirit

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival,^(J) Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me^[c](K) and drink.^{(L) 38} The one who believes in me,^(M) as the Scripture^(N) has said, will have streams of living water^(O) flow^(P) from deep within him.” ³⁹ He said this about the Spirit.^(Q) Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit,^(R) for the Spirit^[d] had not yet been given^[e] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The People Are Divided over Jesus

⁴⁰ When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.”^{(S) 41} Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ⁴² Doesn’t the Scripture^(T) say that the Messiah comes from David’s^(U) offspring^[f] and from the town of Bethlehem,^(V) where David lived?” ⁴³ So the crowd was divided^(W) because of him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize him,^(X) but no one laid hands on him.

Debate over Jesus’s Claims

⁴⁵ Then the servants^(Y) came to the chief priests^(Z) and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

⁴⁶ The servants answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” ^[g](AA)

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees responded to them, “Are you fooled^(AB) too? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers^(AC) or Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus^(AD)—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them—said to them, ⁵¹ “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?” ^(AE)

⁵² “You aren’t from Galilee^(AF) too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”^(AG)

[The earliest mss do not include 7:53–8:11.]

[⁵³ Then each one went to his house.^[h]