John 7:1–52

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. ^s19Didn’t Moses ^tgive you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law! ^uWhy do you want to kill Me?”

²⁰“You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who wants to kill You?”

²¹“I did one work, ^vand you are all amazed,” Jesus answered. ²²“Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision ^w—not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers ^x—and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ^y23If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath ^zso that the law of Moses ^awon’t be broken, are you angry at Me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? ²⁴Stop judging ^baccording to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”

The Identity of the Messiah

²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem ^cwere saying, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? ²⁶Yet, look! He’s speaking publicly and they’re saying nothing to Him. Can it be true that the authorities ^dknow He is the Messiah? ^e27But we know where this man is from. ^fWhen the Messiah comes, nobody will know where He is from.”

²⁸As He was teaching in the temple complex, ^gJesus cried out, “You know Me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me ^his true. You don’t know Him; ⁱ²⁹I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” ^j

³⁰Then they tried to seize Him. Yet no one laid a hand on Him because His hour ^khad not yet come. ³¹However, many from the crowd believed in Him and said, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this man has done, ^lwill He?”

³²The Pharisees ^mheard the crowd muttering these things about Him, so the chief priests ⁿand the Pharisees sent temple police to arrest Him.

³³Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. ^oThen I’m going to the One who sent Me. ^p34You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ^q

³⁵Then the Jews ^rsaid to one another, “Where does He intend to go so we won’t find Him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Dispersion ^stamong the Greeks ^uand 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’ ^v?”

The Promise of the Spirit

³⁷On the last and most important day of the festival, ^wJesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me ^xyand drink! ^z38The one who believes in Me, ^aas the Scripture ^bhas said, ^cwill have streams of living water ^dflow ^efrom deep within him.” ³⁹He said this about the Spirit. ^fThose who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, ^gfor the Spirit ^hhad not yet been received ^ijbecause Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The People Are Divided over Jesus

⁴⁰When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This really is the Prophet!” ^kl41Others said, “This is the Messiah!” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does He? ⁴²Doesn’t the Scripture ^msay that the Messiah comes from David’s ⁿoffspring ^oand from the town of Bethlehem, ^pwhere David once lived?” ⁴³So a division ^qoccurred among the crowd because of Him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to seize Him, ^rbut no one laid hands on Him.

Debate over Jesus’ Claims

⁴⁵Then the temple police ^scame to the chief priests ^tand Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?”

⁴⁶The police answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” ^uv

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees responded to them: “Are you fooled ^wtoo? ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers ^xor Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed!”

⁵⁰Nicodemus ^y—the one who came to Him previously, being 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?” ^z

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