John 7:1–18

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers

7After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, ^xsince He did not want to travel in Judea ^ybecause the Jews ^zwere trying to kill Him. ^a2The Jewish Festival of Tabernacles ^bcdwas near, ³so His brothers ^esaid to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea so Your disciples can see Your works ^fthat You are doing. ⁴For 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.)

⁶Jesus told them, “My time ^ghas not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. ⁷The world cannot hate ^hyou, but it does hate Me because I testify about it—that its deeds are evil. ⁸Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to the festival yet, ⁱbecause My time has not yet fully come.” ⁹After He had said these things, He stayed in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles

¹⁰After His brothers had gone up to the festival, then He also went up, not openly but secretly. ¹¹The Jews were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is He?” ¹²And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good ^jman.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving ^kthe people.” ¹³Still, nobody was talking publicly about Him because they feared the Jews.

¹⁴When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple complex ^land began to teach. ¹⁵Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How does He know the Scriptures, ^msince He hasn’t been trained?”

¹⁶Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t Mine but is from the One who sent Me. ⁿ¹⁷If anyone wants to do His will, ^ohe will understand whether the teaching is from God or if I am speaking on My own. ¹⁸The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory. ^pBut He who seeks the glory ^qof the One who sent Him is true, ^rand there is no unrighteousness in Him. ^s