John 7:14-36

Common English Bible

Jesus teaches in the temple

¹⁴ Halfway through the festival, Jesus went up to the temple and started to teach. ¹⁵ Astonished, the Jewish leaders asked, “He’s never been taught! How has he mastered the Law?”

¹⁶ Jesus responded, “My teaching isn’t mine but comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Whoever wants to do God’s will can tell whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Those who speak on their own seek glory for themselves. Those who seek the glory of him who sent me are people of truth; there’s no falsehood in them. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moses give you the Law? Yet none of you keep the Law. Why do you want to kill me?”

²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon. Who wants to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus replied, “I did one work, and you were all astonished. ²² Because Moses gave you the commandment about circumcision (although it wasn’t Moses but the patriarchs), you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If a man can be circumcised on the Sabbath without breaking Moses’ Law, why are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Don’t judge according to appearances. Judge with right judgment.”

²⁵ Some people from Jerusalem said, “Isn’t he the one they want to kill? ²⁶ Here he is, speaking in public, yet they aren’t saying anything to him. Could it be that our leaders actually think he is the Christ? ²⁷ We know where he is from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he exclaimed, “You know me and where I am from. I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. ²⁹ I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” ³⁰ So they wanted to seize Jesus, but they couldn’t because his time hadn’t yet come.

³¹ Many from that crowd believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man does?” ³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Jesus, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.

³³ Therefore, Jesus said, “I’m still with you for a little while before I go to the one who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come.”

³⁵ The Jewish opposition asked each other, “Where does he intend to go that we can’t find him? Surely he doesn’t intend to go where our people have been scattered and are living among the Greeks! He isn’t going to teach the Greeks, is he? ³⁶ What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come’?”