The Unbelief of Jesus’s Brothers

7 After this, Jesus travelled in Galilee,^(A) since he did not want to travel in Judea^(B) because the Jews^(C) were trying to kill him.^{(D) 2} The Jewish Festival of Shelters^[a](E) was near. ³ So his brothers^(F) said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples can see your works^(G) that you are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret while he’s seeking public recognition. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ ⁵ (For not even his brothers believed in him.)

⁶ Jesus told them, ‘My time^(H) has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. ⁷ The world cannot hate^(I) you, but it does hate me because I testify about it – that its works are evil. ⁸ Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to this festival,^[b] because my time has not yet fully come.’ ⁹ After he had said these things, he stayed in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Shelters

¹⁰ After his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but secretly. ¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he? ’ ¹² And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, ‘He’s a good^(J) man.’ Others were saying, ‘No, on the contrary, he’s deceiving^(K) the people.’ ¹³ Still, nobody was talking publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple^(L) and began to teach. ¹⁵ Then the Jews were amazed and said, ‘How is this man so learned,^(M) since he hasn’t been trained? ’

¹⁶ Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching isn’t mine but is from the one who sent me.^{(N) 17} If anyone wants to do his will,^(O) he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory;^(P) but he who seeks the glory^(Q) of the one who sent him is true,^(R) and there is no unrighteousness in him.^{(S) 19} Didn’t Moses^(T) give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.^(U) Why are you trying to kill me? ’

²⁰ ‘You have a demon! ’ the crowd responded. ‘Who is trying to kill you? ’

²¹ ‘I performed one work,^(V) and you are all amazed,’ Jesus answered. ²² ‘This is why Moses has given you circumcision^(W) #– #not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers^(X) #– #and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.^{(Y) 23} If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath^(Z) so that the law of Moses^(AA) won’t be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging^(AB) according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgement.’

The Identity of the Messiah

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem^(AC) 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^(AD) know he is the Messiah?^{(AE) 27} But we know where this man is from.^(AF) When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from.’

²⁸ As he was teaching in the temple,^(AG) 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^(AH) is true. You don’t know him;^{(AI) 29} I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.’^(AJ)

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,^(AK) will he? ’ ³² The Pharisees^(AL) heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests^(AM) and the Pharisees sent servants^[c] to arrest him.

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

³⁵ Then the Jews^(AQ) 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^[d](AR) among the Greeks^(AS) 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”^(AT)? ’

The Promise of the Spirit

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival,^(AU) Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me^[e](AV) and drink.^{(AW) 38} The one who believes in me,^(AX) as the Scripture^(AY) has said, will have streams of living water^(AZ) flow^(BA) from deep within him.’ ³⁹ He said this about the Spirit.^(BB) Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit,^(BC) for the Spirit^[f] had not yet been given^[g] 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.’^{(BD) 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^(BE) say that the Messiah comes from David’s^(BF) offspring^[h] and from the town of Bethlehem,^(BG) where David lived? ’ ⁴³ So the crowd was divided^(BH) because of him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize him,^(BI) but no one laid hands on him.

Debate over Jesus’s Claims

⁴⁵ Then the servants^(BJ) came to the chief priests^(BK) and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him? ’

⁴⁶ The servants answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this! ’^[i](BL)

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus^(BO) – 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? ’^(BP)

⁵² ‘You aren’t from Galilee^(BQ) too, are you? ’ they replied. ‘Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.’^(BR)

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

[⁵³ Then each one went to his house.