³²The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. ³³Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. ³⁴You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”

³⁵Some people said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live and teach the Greek people there? ³⁶What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘You cannot come where I am’?”

Jesus Talks About the Spirit

³⁷On the last and most important day of the feast Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.” ³⁹Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.

The People Argue About Jesus

⁴⁰When the people heard Jesus’ words, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet.” ⁿ

⁴¹Others said, “He is the Christ.”

Still others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee. ⁴²The Scripture says that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” ⁴³So the people did not agree with each other about Jesus. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one was able to touch him.

Some Leaders Won’t Believe

⁴⁵The Temple guards went back to the leading priests and the Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”

⁴⁶The guards answered, “The words he says are greater than the words of any other person who has ever spoken!”

⁴⁷The Pharisees answered, “So Jesus has fooled you also! ⁴⁸Have any of the leaders or the Pharisees believed in him? No! ⁴⁹But these people, who know nothing about the law, are under God’s curse.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to see Jesus before, was in that group. ⁿ He said, ⁵¹“Our law does not judge a person without hearing him and knowing what he has done.”

⁵²They answered, “Are you from Galilee, too? Study the Scriptures, and you will learn that no prophet comes from Galilee.”

⁵³And everyone left and went home.

The Woman Caught in Adultery

8Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Read in Logos

John 7:37–38: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‛Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Footnotes

nProphet They probably meant the prophet God told Moses he would send (Deuteronomy 18:15–19).
nNicodemus … group. The story about Nicodemus going and talking to Jesus is in John 3:1–21.