John 7:17-8:37

English Standard Version

^17 (A)If anyone's will is to do God's^[a] will, ^(B)he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I ^(C)am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own authority ^(D)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 (E)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^(F)Why do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, ^(G)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did ^(H)one work, and you all marvel at it. ^22 (I)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^(J)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, ^(K)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? ^24 (L)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 ^(M)they seek to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, ^(N)speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^(O)the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷ But ^(P)we know ^(Q)where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, ^(R)no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, ^(S)as he taught in the temple, ^(T)“You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^(U)I have not come of my own accord. ^(V)He who sent me is true, ^(W)and him you do not know. ^29 (X)I know him, for I come ^(Y)from him, and ^(Z)he sent me.” ^30 (AA)So they were seeking to arrest him, but ^(AB)no one laid a hand on him, ^(AC)because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet ^(AD)many of the people believed in him. They said, ^(AE)“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 ^(AF)muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent ^(AG)officers to arrest him. ³³ Jesus then said, ^(AH)“I will be with you a little longer, and then ^(AI)I am going to him who sent me. ^34 (AJ)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? ^(AK)Does he intend to go to ^(AL)the Dispersion among ^(AM)the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ^(AN)‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

^37 (AO)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^(AP)“If anyone thirsts, let him ^(AQ)come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, ^(AR)as^[b] the Scripture has said, ^(AS)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^(AT)living water.’” ³⁹ Now ^(AU)this he said about the Spirit, ^(AV)whom those who believed in him were to receive, ^(AW)for as yet the Spirit had not been ^(AX)given, ^(AY)because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(AZ)some of the people said, “This really is ^(BA)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(BB)the Christ.” But some said, ^(BC)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(BD)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(BE)from Bethlehem, the village ^(BF)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(BG)a division among the people over him. ^44 (BH)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

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

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

The Woman Caught in Adultery

[[⁵³ They went each to his own house, 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ^2 (BR)Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and ^(BS)he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now ^(BT)in the Law, Moses commanded us ^(BU)to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said ^(BV)to test him, ^(BW)that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ^(BX)“Let him who is without sin among you ^(BY)be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, ^(BZ)“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on ^(CA)sin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

^12 (CB)Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(CC)“I am the light of the world. Whoever ^(CD)follows me will not ^(CE)walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, ^(CF)“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^(CG)my testimony is true, for I know ^(CH)where I came from and ^(CI)where I am going, but ^(CJ)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (CK)You judge according to the flesh; ^(CL)I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, ^(CM)my judgment is true, for ^(CN)it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[d] who sent me. ^17 (CO)In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^(CP)the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^(CQ)“You know neither me nor my Father. ^(CR)If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in ^(CS)the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^(CT)no one arrested him, because ^(CU)his hour had not yet come.

²¹ So he said to them again, ^(CV)“I am going away, and ^(CW)you will seek me, and ^(CX)you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews said, ^(CY)“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, ^(CZ)“You are from below; I am from above. ^(DA)You are of this world; ^(DB)I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you ^(DC)would die in your sins, for ^(DD)unless you believe that ^(DE)I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, ^(DF)“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have much to say about you and much to judge, but ^(DG)he who sent me is true, and I declare ^(DH)to the world ^(DI)what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that ^(DJ)he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you have ^(DK)lifted up the Son of Man, ^(DL)then you will know that ^(DM)I am he, and that ^(DN)I do nothing on my own authority, but ^(DO)speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹ And ^(DP)he who sent me is with me. ^(DQ)He has not left me alone, for ^(DR)I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰ As he was saying these things, ^(DS)many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^(DT)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will ^(DU)know the truth, and the truth ^(DV)will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, ^(DW)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(DX)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[e] to sin. ^35 (DY)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(DZ)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(EA)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.