John 7:25-8:11

Christian Standard Bible

The Identity of the Messiah

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem^(A) were saying, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? ²⁶ Yet, look, he’s speaking publicly and they’re saying nothing to him. Can it be true that the authorities^(B) know he is the Messiah?^{(C) 27} But we know where this man is from.^(D) When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from.”

²⁸ As he was teaching in the temple,^(E) Jesus cried out, “You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me^(F) is true. You don’t know him;^{(G) 29} I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”^(H)

³⁰ Then they tried to seize him. Yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ However, many from the crowd believed in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he won’t perform more signs than this man has done,^(I) will he?” ³² The Pharisees^(J) heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests^(K) and the Pharisees sent servants^[a] to arrest him.

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

³⁵ Then the Jews^(O) 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](P) among the Greeks^(Q) 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’^(R)?”

The Promise of the Spirit

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival,^(S) Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me^[c](T) and drink.^{(U) 38} The one who believes in me,^(V) as the Scripture^(W) has said, will have streams of living water^(X) flow^(Y) from deep within him.” ³⁹ He said this about the Spirit.^(Z) Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit,^(AA) 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.”^{(AB) 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^(AC) say that the Messiah comes from David’s^(AD) offspring^[f] and from the town of Bethlehem,^(AE) where David lived?” ⁴³ So the crowd was divided^(AF) because of him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize him,^(AG) but no one laid hands on him.

Debate over Jesus’s Claims

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

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

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus^(AM)—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?” ^(AN)

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

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

[⁵³ Then each one went to his house.^[h] 8 ¹ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.^(AQ)

An Adulteress Forgiven

² At dawn he went to the temple^(AR) again, and all the people were coming to him.^(AS) He sat down^(AT) and began to teach them.

³ Then the scribes and the Pharisees^(AU) brought a woman caught in adultery,^(AV) making her stand in the center. ⁴ “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.^{(AW) 5} In the law Moses^(AX) commanded us to stone such women.^(AY) So what do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to trap him,^(AZ) in order that they might have evidence to accuse him.

Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin^(BA) among you^(BB) should be the first to throw a stone at her.”^{(BC) 8} Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. ⁹ When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center. ¹⁰ When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, Lord,”^[i] she answered.

“Neither do I condemn you,”^(BD) said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]