7And after these things Jesus was going about in Galilee. For he did not want to go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. ²Now the feast of the Jews—the feast of Tabernacles—was near. ³So his brothers said to him, “Depart from here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also can see your works that you are doing. ⁴For no one does anything in secret and yet he himself desires to be publicly recognized.^a If you are doing these things, reveal yourself to the world!” ⁵(For not even his brothers believed in him.)

Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles

⁶So Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it, that its deeds are evil. ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not^b going up to this feast, because my time is not yet completed.^c ⁹And when he^* had said these things, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not openly, but (as it were) in secret. ¹¹So the Jews were looking for him at the feast, and were saying, “Where is he?” ¹²And there was a lot of grumbling concerning him among the crowds; some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others were saying, “No, but he deceives the crowd.” ¹³However, no one was speaking openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴Now when the feast was already half over,^d Jesus went to the temple courts^* and began to teach.^* ¹⁵Then the Jews were astonished, saying, “How does this man possess knowledge,^e because he^* has not been taught?” ¹⁶So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but is from the one who sent me. ¹⁷If anyone wants to do his will, he will know about my^* teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking from myself. ¹⁸The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. ¹⁹Has not Moses given you the law, and none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”

²⁰The crowd replied, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work, and you are all astonished. ²²Because of this Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses would not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole man well^f on the Sabbath? ²⁴Do not judge according to outward appearance, but judge according to righteous judgment!”

Is Jesus the Christ?

²⁵Then some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem began to say,^* “Is this not the one whom they are seeking to kill? ²⁶And behold, he is speaking openly and they are saying nothing to him! Can it be that the rulers truly know that this man is the Christ? ²⁷Yet we know where this man is from, but the Christ, whenever he comes—no one knows where he is from!”

²⁸Then Jesus cried out in the temple courts,^* teaching and saying, “You both know me and you know where I am from! And I have not come from myself, but the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know. ²⁹I know him, because I am from him and he sent me.”

³⁰So they were seeking to seize him, and no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹But from the crowd many believed in him and were saying, “Whenever the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than this man has done, will he?”^*

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers in order to take him into custody .^g ³³Then Jesus said, “Yet a little time I am with you, and I am going to the one who sent me. ³⁴You will seek me and will not find me,^*^h and where I am, you cannot come.”

³⁵So the Jews said to one another, “Where is this one going to go, that we will not find him? He is not going to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?^* ³⁶What is this saying that he said, ‘You will seek me and will not find me,^*ⁱ and where I am, you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Spirit

³⁷Now on the last day of the feast—the great day—Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let him drink, ³⁸the one who believes in me.^j Just as the scripture said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’ ”^k ³⁹(Now he said this concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given,^l because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

Different Opinions About Jesus

⁴⁰Then, when they^* heard these words, some from the crowd began to say,^* “This man is truly the Prophet!” ⁴¹Others were saying, “This man is the Christ!” But others were saying, “No, for the Christ does not come from Galilee, does he?^* ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴And some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵So the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said to them, “Why^m did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶The officers replied, “Never has a man spoken like this!” ⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied to them, “You have not also been deceived, have you?^* ⁴⁸Noneⁿ of the rulers or of the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?^* ⁴⁹But this crowd who does not know the law is accursed!”

⁵⁰Nicodemus, the one who came to him previously—who was one of them—said to them, ⁵¹“Our law does not condemn a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?”^* ⁵²They answered and said to him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you?^* Investigate and see that a prophet does not arise from Galilee!” ⟦⁵³And each one went to his own house.^o

A Woman Caught in Adultery

8But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Now early in the morning he came again to the temple courts.^* And all the people were coming,^a and he sat down and^* began to teach^* them.

³Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman^b caught in adultery. And standing her in their midst, ⁴they said to him, testing him,^c “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery! ⁵Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶(Now they were saying this to test him, so that they would have an occasion^* to bring charges against him.) But Jesus, bending down, began to write^* with his^* finger on the ground, taking no notice.^d ⁷And when they persisted in asking him, straightening up he said^e to them, “The one of you without sin, let him throw the first stone at her!” ⁸And bending down again, he wrote on the ground. ⁹Now when they^* heard it,^* being convicted by their conscience,^f they began to depart,^* one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus^g was left alone—and the woman who was in their midst. ¹⁰So Jesus, straightening up and seeing no one except the woman,^h said to her, “Where are those accusers of yours?ⁱ Does no one condemn you?” ¹¹And she said, “No one, Lord.” So Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and^j sin no more.”⟧^k

Jesus, the Light of the World

¹²Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify concerning yourself! Your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify concerning myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I have come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge according to externals; I do not judge anyone. ¹⁶But even if I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me. ¹⁷And even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.^l ¹⁸I am the one who testifies concerning myself, and the Father who sent me testifies concerning me.”

¹⁹So they were saying to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus replied, “You know neither me nor my Father! If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” ²⁰He spoke these words by the treasury while^* teaching in the temple courts,^* and no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come!” ²²Then the Jews began to say,^* “Perhaps he will kill himself, because he is saying, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ ” ²³And he said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are from this world; I am not from this world. ²⁴Thus I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵So they began to say to him,^* “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What^m I have been saying to you from the beginning. ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but the one who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these things I say to the world.” ²⁷(They did not know that he was speaking to them about the Father.)

²⁸Then Jesus said,ⁿ “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will recognize that I am he, and I do nothing from myself, but just as the Father taught me, I say these things. ²⁹And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰While^* he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³They replied to him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?” ³⁴…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading John 7–8 in Logos

Footnotes

aLiterally “with openness”
bMost manuscripts read “not yet” here, but this is obviously an easier reading intended to reconcile the statement with Jesus’ later actions
cOr “fulfilled”
*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had said”) which is understood as temporal
dLiterally “now it being already in the middle of the feast”
*Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to teach”)
eLiterally “know letters”
*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“been taught”) which is understood as causal
*Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
fOr “a man entirely well”
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
*Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “will he”
gLiterally “that they could seize him”
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
hSome manuscripts explicitly state “me”
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “is he”
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
iSome manuscripts explicitly state “me”
jAn alternative punctuation of vv. 37–38 reads: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and let him drink. 38 The one who believes in me, just as the scripture said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
kA quotation from the Old Testament of uncertain origin; texts most often suggested are Isa 44:3; 55:1; 58:11; Zech 14:8
lA few manuscripts supply the participle “given” here; while it is unlikely this represents the original reading, many English versions nevertheless supply “given” to avoid the impression that the Spirit did not exist prior to this point
*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “does he”
mLiterally “because of what”
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “have you”
nLiterally “not anyone”
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “have they”
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “does it”
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “are you”
o John 7:53–8:11 is not found in the earliest and best manuscripts and was almost certainly not an original part of the Gospel of John; one significant group of Greek manuscripts places it after Luke 21:38
*Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
aSome manuscripts have “were coming to him”
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“sat down”) has been translated as a finite verb
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to teach”)
bSome manuscripts have “brought a woman”
cSome manuscripts omit “testing him”
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to write”)
*Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
dSome manuscripts omit “taking no notice”
eSome manuscripts have “he straightened up and said”
*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
fSome manuscripts omit “being convicted by their conscience”
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to depart”)
gSome manuscripts have “he”
hSome manuscripts omit “and seeing no one except the woman”
iSome manuscripts have “said to her, ‘Woman, where are they?”
jSome manuscripts have “and from now on”
k John 7:53–8:11 is not found in the earliest and best manuscripts and was almost certainly not an original part of the Gospel of John; one significant group of Greek manuscripts places it after Luke 21:38
lAn allusion to Deut 17:6
*Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“teaching”) which is understood as temporal
*Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
mLiterally “that which”
nSome manuscripts have “said to them”
*Here “while” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was saying”)