Psalm 20^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(A) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(B) 38} Whoever believes^(C) in me, as Scripture has said,^(D) rivers of living water^(E) will flow from within them.”^{[a](F) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(G) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(H) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(I)

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

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

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

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,”^(P) the guards replied.

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(S) 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.”^(T)

[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.^(U)

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.^{(V) 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.^(W) Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap,^(X) in order to have a basis for accusing him.^(Y)

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^(Z) at her.”^{(AA) 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,”^(AB) Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”^(AC)

Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony

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

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

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.^(AH) But you have no idea where I come from^(AI) or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards;^(AJ) I pass judgment on no one.^{(AK) 16} But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.^{(AL) 17} In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.^{(AM) 18} I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”^(AN)

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

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

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^(AT) in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”^(AU)

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.^{(AV) 24} I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he,^(AW) 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,^(AX) and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”^(AY)

²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[b] the Son of Man,^(AZ) 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.^{(BA) 29} The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,^(BB) for I always do what pleases him.”^(BC)