John 7:32–53

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

⁵³So each one went to his house.