John 7:32–53

³²The Pharisees^aa heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests^ab and the Pharisees sent servants to arrest him.

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

³⁵Then the Jews^af 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^Bag among the Greeks^ah and teach the Greeks, does he? ³⁶What is this remark he made: ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come’^ai?”

THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT

³⁷On the last and most important day of the festival,^aj Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me^Cak and drink.^{al 38}The one who believes in me,^am as the Scripture^an has said, will have streams of living water^ao flow^ap from deep within him.” ³⁹He said this about the Spirit.^aq Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit,^ar for the Spirit^D had not yet been given^E because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

THE PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED OVER JESUS

⁴⁰When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.”^{as 41}Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Doesn’t the Scripture^at say that the Messiah comes from David’s^au offspring^F and from the town of Bethlehem,^av where David lived?” ⁴³So the crowd was divided^aw because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to seize him,^ax but no one laid hands on him.

DEBATE OVER JESUS’S CLAIMS

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

⁴⁶The servants answered, “No man ever spoke like this!”^Aba

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

⁵⁰Nicodemus^bd—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?”^a

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

[⁵³Then each one went to his house.