John 7:28-53

New International Version

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(A) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(B) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(C) You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him^(D) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(E)

³⁰ At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(F) because his hour had not yet come.^{(G) 31} Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(H) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(I) 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,^(J) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^{(K) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(L)

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 scattered^(M) among the Greeks,^(N) 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’?”^(O)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(P) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(Q) 38} Whoever believes^(R) in me, as Scripture has said,^(S) rivers of living water^(T) will flow from within them.”^{[a](U) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(V) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(W) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(X)

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

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?^{(Z) 42} Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants^(AA) and from Bethlehem,^(AB) the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided^(AC) because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^(AD)

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,”^(AE) the guards replied.

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(AH) 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.”^(AI)

[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.]

⁵³ Then they all went home,