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!” ⟦

Read in Logos

John 7:17: If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

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”