²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures^(A) to eternal life,^(B) which the Son of Man^(C) will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal^(D) of approval.”

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe^(E) in the one he has sent.”^(F)

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign^(G) then will you give that we may see it and believe you?^(H) What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna^(I) in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^[a]”^(J)

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven^(K) and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”^(L)

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am^(M) the bread of life.^(N) Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes^(O) in me will never be thirsty.^{(P) 36} But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me^(Q) will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven^(R) not to do my will but to do the will^(S) of him who sent me.^{(T) 39} And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me,^(U) but raise them up at the last day.^{(V) 40} For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son^(W) and believes in him shall have eternal life,^(X) and I will raise them up at the last day.”

⁴¹ At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph,^(Y) whose father and mother we know?^(Z) How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”^(AA)

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,^(AB) and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[b](AC) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God;^(AD) only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.^{(AE) 48} I am the bread of life.^{(AF) 49} Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.^{(AG) 50} But here is the bread that comes down from heaven,^(AH) which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread^(AI) that came down from heaven.^(AJ) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”^(AK)

⁵² Then the Jews^(AL) began to argue sharply among themselves,^(AM) “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh^(AN) of the Son of Man^(AO) and drink his blood,^(AP) you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.^{(AQ) 55} For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.^{(AR) 57} Just as the living Father sent me^(AS) and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”^{(AT) 59} He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples^(AU) said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”^(AV)

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?^{(AW) 62} Then what if you see the Son of Man^(AX) ascend to where he was before!^{(AY) 63} The Spirit gives life;^(AZ) the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit^[c] and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known^(BA) from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.^{(BB) 65} He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”^(BC)

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples^(BD) turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.^(BE)

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him,^(BF) “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.^{(BG) 69} We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”^(BH)

⁷⁰ Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you,^(BI) the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”^{(BJ) 71} (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,^(BK) who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)^(BL)

Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want^[d] to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders^(BM) there were looking for a way to kill him.^{(BN) 2} But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles^(BO) was near, ³ Jesus’ brothers^(BP) said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. ⁴ No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.^(BQ)

⁶ Therefore Jesus told them, “My time^(BR) is not yet here; for you any time will do. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me^(BS) because I testify that its works are evil.^{(BT) 8} You go to the festival. I am not^[e] going up to this festival, because my time^(BU) has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

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^(BV) 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.”^{(BW) 13} But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.^(BX)

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

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

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^{(CC) 17} Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(CD) 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,^(CE) 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?^(CF) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(CG)

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

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(CI) and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(CJ) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(CK) 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.”^(CL)

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?^{(CM) 26} Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(CN) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^{(CO) 27} But we know where this man is from;^(CP) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(CQ) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(CR) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(CS) You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him^(CT) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(CU)

³⁰ At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(CV) because his hour had not yet come.^{(CW) 31} Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(CX) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(CY) than this man?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

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

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^(DC) among the Greeks,^(DD) and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”^(DE)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(DF) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(DG) 38} Whoever believes^(DH) in me, as Scripture has said,^(DI) rivers of living water^(DJ) will flow from within them.”^{[f](DK) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(DL) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(DM) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(DN)

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

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

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

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,”^(DU) the guards replied.

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(DX) 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.”^(DY)

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[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

⁵³ Then they all went home, 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.^(DZ)

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.^{(EA) 3} The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.^(EB) Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap,^(EC) in order to have a basis for accusing him.^(ED)

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone^(EE) at her.”^{(EF) 8} Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,”^(EG) Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”^(EH)

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Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony

¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am^(EI) the light of the world.^(EJ) Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”^(EK)

¹³ The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”^(EL)

¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going.^(EM) But you have no idea where I come from^(EN) or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards;^(EO) I pass judgment on no one.^{(EP) 16} But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.^{(EQ) 17} In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.^{(ER) 18} I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”^(ES)

¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,”^(ET) Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”^{(EU) 20} He spoke these words while teaching^(EV) in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put.^(EW) Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.^(EX)

Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die^(EY) in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”^(EZ)

²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.^{(FA) 24} I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he,^(FB) you will indeed die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy,^(FC) and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”^(FD)

²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[g] the Son of Man,^(FE) then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.^{(FF) 29} The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,^(FG) for I always do what pleases him.”^{(FH) 30} Even as he spoke, many believed in him.^(FI)

Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching,^(FJ) you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”^(FK)

³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants^(FL) and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.^{(FM) 35} Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.^{(FN) 36} So if the Son sets you free,^(FO) you will be free indeed.