John 7
New Living Translation
Jesus and His Brothers
7 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going[a] to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.
Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple
10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” 13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people[b] were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.
16 So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. 17 Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18 Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies. 19 Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.”
20 The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus replied, “I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed. 22 But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision began with the patriarchs, long before the law of Moses.) 23 For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath? 24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
Is Jesus the Messiah?
25 Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Could our leaders possibly believe that he is the Messiah? 27 But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”
28 While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. 29 But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.” 30 Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time[c] had not yet come.
31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
32 When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33 But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. 34 You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.”
35 The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is he planning to go?” they asked. “Is he thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands?[d] Maybe he will even teach the Greeks! 36 What does he mean when he says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”
Jesus Promises Living Water
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”[e] 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given,[f] because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Division and Unbelief
40 When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”[g] 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”[h] 43 So the crowd was divided about him. 44 Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
47 “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. 48 “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49 This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”
50 Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. 51 “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes[i] from Galilee!”
[The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53–8:11.]
53 Then the meeting broke up, and everybody went home.
Footnotes
- 7:8 Some manuscripts read not yet going.
- 7:15 Greek Jewish people.
- 7:30 Greek his hour.
- 7:35 Or the Jews who live among the Greeks?
- 7:37-38 Or “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from the heart of anyone who believes in me.’”
- 7:39 Several early manuscripts read But as yet there was no Spirit. Still others read But as yet there was no Holy Spirit.
- 7:40 See Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5-6.
- 7:42 See Mic 5:2.
- 7:52 Some manuscripts read the prophet does not come.
John 7
Evangelical Heritage Version
Up to Jerusalem
7 After this, Jesus moved around in Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to find a way to kill him.
2 Now the Jewish Festival of Shelters[a] was near. 3 So his brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to Judea so your disciples there can also see the works you are doing. 4 Indeed, no one acts in secret who wants to be known in public. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 So Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not arrived yet, but any time is the right time for you. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the festival. I am not going up to this festival yet,[b] because the right time for me has not yet arrived.”
9 After he said this, he stayed in Galilee. 10 However, after his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but in a private way.
At the Festival of Shelters[c]
11 At the festival, the Jews kept looking for him. They asked, “Where is he?” 12 And there was widespread whispering about him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews.
14 When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, “How does this man know what is written without being instructed?”
16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but it comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or if I speak on my own. 18 The one who speaks on his own is seeking his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—that is the one who is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you does what the law tells you. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you are all amazed. 22 Consider this: Because Moses has given you circumcision (not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers), you circumcise a man even on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by outward appearance. Instead make a right judgment.”
25 Some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? 26 Yet, look! He’s speaking openly, and they don’t say a thing to him. Certainly the rulers have not concluded that he is the Christ, have they? 27 But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then Jesus called out as he was teaching in the temple courts, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is real. You do not know him. 29 I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.”
30 So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31 But many in the crowd believed in him and asked, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more miraculous signs than this man, will he?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.
33 Then Jesus said, “I am going to be with you only a little while longer. Then I am going away to the one who sent me. 34 You will be looking for me and will not find me, and where I am going to be, you cannot come.”
35 Then the Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He does not intend to go to the Jews scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will be looking for me and will not find me, and where I am going to be, you cannot come’?”
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and called out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Holy[d] Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 After hearing his words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Surely the Christ does not come from Galilee, does he? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ comes from David’s descendants and from the little town of Bethlehem where David lived?” 43 So the people were divided because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the guards came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 The guards answered, “No one ever spoke the way this man does!”
47 So the Pharisees answered them, “You have not been deceived too, have you? 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law, is cursed!”
50 One of them, Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus earlier, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man before we hear from him and find out what he’s doing?”
52 “You are not from Galilee too, are you?” they replied. “Search and you will see that a prophet does not come from Galilee.”
53 Then each of them went home.[e]
Footnotes
- John 7:2 Traditionally Tabernacles
- John 7:8 Some witnesses to the text omit yet.
- John 7:11 Traditionally Tabernacles
- John 7:39 Some witnesses to the text omit Holy.
- John 7:53 Some witnesses to the text omit 7:53–8:11 or include these verses in other places within John’s Gospel. The witnesses that include these verses are early and widespread throughout most of the early church.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.