John 7–8

Jesus Goes to the Feast of Booths

7After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He stayed away from Judea on purpose. He knew that the Jews there were waiting to kill him.

²The Jewish Feast of Booths was near. ³Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to Judea. Then your disciples will see the kinds of things you do. ⁴No one who wants to be well known does things in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵Even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe in him.

⁶So Jesus told them, “The right time has not yet come for me. For you, any time is right. ⁷The people of the world can’t hate you. But they hate me. This is because I give witness that what they do is evil.

⁸“You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast. For me, the right time has not yet come.”

⁹After he said this, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰When his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also. But he went secretly, not openly. ¹¹At the Feast the Jews were watching for him. They were asking, “Where is he?”

¹²Many people in the crowd were whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No. He fools the people.”

¹³But no one would say anything about him openly. They were afraid of the Jews.

Jesus Teaches at the Feast

¹⁴Jesus did nothing until halfway through the Feast. Then he went up to the temple courtyard and began to teach. ¹⁵The Jews were amazed. They asked, “How did this man learn so much without studying?”

¹⁶Jesus answered, “What I teach is not my own. It comes from the One who sent me. ¹⁷Anyone who chooses to do what God wants him to do will find out whether my teaching comes from God or from me. ¹⁸Someone who speaks on his own does it to get honor for himself. But someone who works for the honor of the One who sent him is truthful. There is nothing false about him.

¹⁹“Didn’t Moses give you the law? But not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰“You are controlled by demons,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²²Moses gave you circumcision, and so you circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. But circumcision did not really come from Moses. It came from Abraham. ²³You circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. You think that if you do, you won’t break the law of Moses. Then why are you angry with me? I healed a whole man on the Sabbath!

²⁴“Stop judging only by what you see. Judge correctly.”

Is Jesus the Christ?

²⁵Then some of the people of Jerusalem began asking questions. They said, “Isn’t this the man some people are trying to kill? ²⁶Here he is! He is speaking openly. They aren’t saying a word to him. Have the authorities really decided that he is the Christ? ²⁷But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸Jesus was still teaching in the temple courtyard. He cried out, “Yes, you know me. And you know where I am from. I am not here on my own. The One who sent me is true. You do not know him. ²⁹But I know him. I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰When he said this, they tried to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him. His time had not yet come.

³¹Still, many people in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “How will it be when the Christ comes? Will he do more miraculous signs than this man?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering things like this about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time. Then I will go to the One who sent me. ³⁴You will look for me, but you won’t find me. You can’t come where I am going.”

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man plan to go? Does he think we can’t find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks? Will he go there to teach the Greeks? ³⁶What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me’? And, ‘You can’t come where I am going’?”

³⁷It was the last and most important day of the Feast. Jesus stood up and spoke in a loud voice. He said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸Does anyone believe in me? Then, just as Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from inside him.”

³⁹When he said this, he meant the Holy Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit later. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given. This was because Jesus had not yet received glory.

⁴⁰When some of the people heard his words, they said, “This man must be the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”

⁴¹Others said, “He is the Christ.”

Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? ⁴²Doesn’t Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family? Doesn’t it say that he will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

⁴³So the people did not agree about who Jesus was. ⁴⁴Some wanted to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him.

The Jewish Leaders Do Not Believe

⁴⁵Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees. They asked the guards, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

⁴⁷“You mean he has fooled you also?” the Pharisees asked. ⁴⁸“Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹No! But this mob knows nothing about the law. There is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰Then Nicodemus, a Pharisee, spoke. He was the one who had gone to Jesus earlier. He asked, ⁵¹“Does our law find someone guilty without hearing him first? Doesn’t it want to find out what he is doing?”

⁵²They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Look into it. You will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

⁵³Then each of them went home.

8But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²At sunrise he arrived in the temple courtyard again. All the people gathered around him there. He sat down to teach them.

³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman. She had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in front of the group. ⁴They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught having sex with a man who was not her husband. ⁵In the Law, Moses commanded us to kill such women by throwing stones at them. Now what do you say?” ⁶They were trying to trap Jesus with that question. They wanted to have a reason to bring charges against him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

⁷They kept asking him questions. So he stood up and said to them, “Has any one of you not sinned? Then you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

⁸He bent down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹Those who heard what he had said began to go away. They left one at a time, the older ones first. Soon only Jesus was left. The woman was still standing there.

¹⁰Jesus stood up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Hasn’t anyone found you guilty?”

¹¹“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then I don’t find you guilty either,” Jesus said. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus’ Witness Is True

¹²Jesus spoke to the people again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will never walk in darkness. They will have the light that leads to life.”

¹³The Pharisees argued with him. “Here you are,” they said, “appearing as your own witness. But your witness does not count.”

¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I give witness about myself, my witness does count. I know where I came from. And I know where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards. I don’t judge anyone.

¹⁶“But if I do judge, what I decide is right. This is because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷Your own Law says that the witness of two is what counts. ¹⁸I give witness about myself. My other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

¹⁹Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

²⁰He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area. He was near the place where the offerings were put. But no one arrested him. His time had not yet come.

²¹Once more Jesus spoke to them. “I am going away,” he said. “You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. You can’t come where I am going.”

²²This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘You can’t come where I am going’?”

²³But Jesus said, “You are from below. I am from heaven. You are from this world. I am not from this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins. Do you believe that I am the one I claim to be? If you don’t, you will certainly die in your sins.”

²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶“I have a lot to say that will judge you. But the One who sent me can be trusted. And I tell the world what I have heard from him.”

²⁷They did not understand that Jesus was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “You will lift up the Son of Man. Then you will know that I am the one I claim to be. You will also know that I do nothing on my own. I speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹The One who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰Even while Jesus was speaking, many people put their faith in him.

The Children of Abraham

³¹Jesus spoke to the Jews who had believed him. “If you obey my teaching,” he said, “you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free.”

³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s children. We have never been slaves of anyone. So how can you say that we will be set free?”

³⁴Jesus replied, “What I’m about to tell you is true. Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. ³⁵A slave has no lasting place in the family. But a son belongs to the family forever. ³⁶So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will really be free.

³⁷“I know you are Abraham’s children. But you are ready to kill me. You have no room for my word. ³⁸I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. You do what you have heard from your father.”

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