John 7:32–53

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things 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,^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

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^u among the Greeks,^v and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What 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

³⁷On 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 believes^z in me, as Scripture has said,^a rivers of living water^b will flow from within them.”^{cc 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

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

⁴¹Others 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?” ⁴³Thus the people were divided^k because of Jesus. ⁴⁴Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^l

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵Finally 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.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus,^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?”

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

8⁵³Then they all went home,