John 7–8

Jesus at the Feast of Booths

7After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because ^pthe Jews¹ were seeking to kill him. ²Now ^qthe Jews’ Feast of ^rBooths was at hand. ^3sSo his brothers² said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. ⁴For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, ^tshow yourself to the world.” ^5uFor not even ^vhis brothers believed in him. ⁶Jesus said to them, ^w“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but ^xit hates me because I testify about it that ^yits works are evil. ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not³ going up to this feast, for ^zmy time has not yet fully come.” ⁹After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But after ^ahis brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. ^11bThe Jews ^cwere looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” ¹²And there was much ^dmuttering about him among the people. ^eWhile some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, ^fhe is leading the people astray.” ¹³Yet ^gfor fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

¹⁴About the middle of the feast Jesus went up ^hinto the temple and began teaching. ¹⁵The Jews therefore ⁱmarveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,⁴ when he has never studied?” ¹⁶So Jesus answered them, ^j“My teaching is not mine, but his ^kwho sent me. ^17lIf anyone’s will is to do God’s⁵ will, ^mhe will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I ⁿam speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸The one who speaks on his own authority ^oseeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. ^19pHas not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^qWhy do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰The crowd answered, ^r“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹Jesus answered them, “I did ^sone work, and you all marvel at it. ^22tMoses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^ufrom the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^vare you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? ^24wDo not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Can This Be the Christ?

²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom ^xthey seek to kill? ²⁶And here he is, ^yspeaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^zthe authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷But ^awe know ^bwhere this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, ^cno one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸So Jesus proclaimed, ^das he taught in the temple, ^a“You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^eI have not come of my own accord. ^fHe who sent me is true, ^gand him you do not know. ^29hI know him, for I come ⁱfrom him, and ^jhe sent me.” ^30kSo they were seeking to arrest him, but ^lno one laid a hand on him, ^mbecause his hour had not yet come. ³¹Yet ⁿmany of the people believed in him. They said, ^o“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd ^pmuttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent ^qofficers to arrest him. ³³Jesus then said, ^r“I will be with you a little longer, and then ^sI am going to him who sent me. ^34tYou will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” ³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^uDoes he intend to go to ^vthe Dispersion among ^wthe Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What does he mean by saying, ^x‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

^37yOn the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^z“If anyone thirsts, let him ^acome to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, ^bas⁶ the Scripture has said, ^c‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^dliving water.’ ” ³⁹Now ^ethis he said about the Spirit, ^fwhom those who believed in him were to receive, ^gfor as yet the Spirit had not been ^hgiven, ⁱbecause Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰When they heard these words, ^jsome of the people said, “This really is ^kthe Prophet.” ⁴¹Others said, “This is ^lthe Christ.” But some said, ^m“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴²Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ⁿfrom the offspring of David, and comes ^ofrom Bethlehem, the village ^pwhere David was?” ⁴³So there was ^qa division among the people over him. ^44rSome of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45sThe officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶The officers answered, ^t“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷The Pharisees answered them, ^u“Have you also been deceived? ^48vHave any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50wNicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51x“Does our law judge a man without first ^ygiving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵²They replied, ^z“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^ano prophet arises from Galilee.”

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]¹

The Woman Caught in Adultery

8[[⁵³They went each to his own house, ¹but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ^2bEarly in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and ^che sat down and taught them. ³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now ^din the Law, Moses commanded us ^eto stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶This they said ^fto test him, ^gthat they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ^h“Let him who is without sin among you ⁱbe the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, ^j“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on ^ksin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

^12lAgain Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^m“I am the light of the world. Whoever ⁿfollows me will not ^owalk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³So the Pharisees said to him, ^p“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^qmy testimony is true, for I know ^rwhere I came from and ^swhere I am going, but ^tyou do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15uYou judge according to the flesh; ^vI judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, ^wmy judgment is true, for ^xit is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father² who sent me. ^17yIn your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^zthe Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^a“You know neither me nor my Father. ^bIf you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰These words he spoke in ^cthe treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^dno one arrested him, because ^ehis hour had not yet come.

²¹So he said to them again, ^f“I am going away, and ^gyou will seek me, and ^hyou will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²²So the Jews said, ⁱ“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³He said to them, ^j“You are from below; I am from above. ^kYou are of this world; ^lI am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you ^mwould die in your sins, for ⁿunless you believe that ^oI am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵So they said to him, ^p“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶I have much to say about you and much to judge, but ^qhe who sent me is true, and I declare ^rto the world ^swhat I have heard from him.” ²⁷They did not understand that ^the had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you have ^ulifted up the Son of Man, ^vthen you will know that ^wI am he, and that ^xI do nothing on my own authority, but ^yspeak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹And ^zhe who sent me is with me. ^zHe has not left me alone, for ^aI always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰As he was saying these things, ^bmany believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^c“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will ^dknow the truth, and the truth ^ewill set you free.” ³³They answered him, ^f“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^geveryone who practices sin is a slave³ to sin. ^35hThe slave does not remain in the house forever; ⁱthe son remains forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^jyou seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38kI speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^lfrom your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹They answered him, ^m“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ⁿ“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰but now ^oyou seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^pthat I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹You are doing the works your father did.”…