Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not wanta to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaderse there were looking for a way to kill him.f 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernaclesg was near, 3 Jesus’ brothersh said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.i

6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My timej is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates mek because I testify that its works are evil.l 8 You go to the festival. I am notb going up to this festival, because my timem has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesusn and asking, “Where is he?”

12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”o 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.p

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.q 15 The Jewsr there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learnings without having been taught?”t

16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.u 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find outv whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,w but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law?x Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”y

20 “You are demon-possessed,”z the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,a and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcisionb (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),c you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”d

Division Over Who Jesus Is

25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?e 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authoritiesf really concluded that he is the Messiah?g 27 But we know where this man is from;h when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,i cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.j I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.k You do not know him, 29 but I know himl because I am from him and he sent me.”m

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,n because his hour had not yet come.o 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him.p They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signsq than this man?”

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

33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time,r and then I am going to the one who sent me.s 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”t

35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scatteredu among the Greeks,v and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”w

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival,x Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.y 38 Whoever believesz in me, as Scripture has said,a rivers of living waterb will flow from within them.”c c 39 By this he meant the Spirit,d whom those who believed in him were later to receive.e Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.f

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”g

41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?h 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendantsi and from Bethlehem,j the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were dividedk because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.l

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

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

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

47 “You mean he has deceived you also?”n the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?o 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

50 Nicodemus,p who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

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

[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53–8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

8 53 Then they all went home, 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.r

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.s 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.t Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap,u in order to have a basis for accusing him.v

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stonew at her.”x 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,”y Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”z

Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I ama the light of the world.b Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”c

13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”d

14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going.e But you have no idea where I come fromf or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards;g I pass judgment on no one.h 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.i 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.j 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”k

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

“You do not know me or my Father,”l Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”m 20 He spoke these words while teachingn in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put.o Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.p

Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will dieq in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”r

22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.s 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he,t you will indeed die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy,u and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”v

27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted upa the Son of Man,w then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.x 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,y for I always do what pleases him.”z 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.a

Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching,b you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”c

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendantsd and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.e 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.f 36 So if the Son sets you free,g you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me,h because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the