John 7:19-10:37

English Standard Version

^19 (A)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^(B)Why do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, ^(C)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did ^(D)one work, and you all marvel at it. ^22 (E)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^(F)from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^(G)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? ^24 (H)Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Can This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom ^(I)they seek to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, ^(J)speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^(K)the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷ But ^(L)we know ^(M)where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, ^(N)no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, ^(O)as he taught in the temple, ^(P)“You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^(Q)I have not come of my own accord. ^(R)He who sent me is true, ^(S)and him you do not know. ^29 (T)I know him, for I come ^(U)from him, and ^(V)he sent me.” ^30 (W)So they were seeking to arrest him, but ^(X)no one laid a hand on him, ^(Y)because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet ^(Z)many of the people believed in him. They said, ^(AA)“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd ^(AB)muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent ^(AC)officers to arrest him. ³³ Jesus then said, ^(AD)“I will be with you a little longer, and then ^(AE)I am going to him who sent me. ^34 (AF)You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^(AG)Does he intend to go to ^(AH)the Dispersion among ^(AI)the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ^(AJ)‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

^37 (AK)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^(AL)“If anyone thirsts, let him ^(AM)come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, ^(AN)as^[a] the Scripture has said, ^(AO)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^(AP)living water.’” ³⁹ Now ^(AQ)this he said about the Spirit, ^(AR)whom those who believed in him were to receive, ^(AS)for as yet the Spirit had not been ^(AT)given, ^(AU)because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(AV)some of the people said, “This really is ^(AW)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(AX)the Christ.” But some said, ^(AY)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(AZ)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(BA)from Bethlehem, the village ^(BB)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(BC)a division among the people over him. ^44 (BD)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45 (BE)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(BF)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(BG)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (BH)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (BI)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (BJ)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(BK)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(BL)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(BM)no prophet arises from Galilee.”

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]^[b]

The Woman Caught in Adultery

⁵³ [[They went each to his own house, 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ^2 (BN)Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and ^(BO)he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now ^(BP)in the Law, Moses commanded us ^(BQ)to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said ^(BR)to test him, ^(BS)that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ^(BT)“Let him who is without sin among you ^(BU)be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, ^(BV)“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on ^(BW)sin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

^12 (BX)Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(BY)“I am the light of the world. Whoever ^(BZ)follows me will not ^(CA)walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, ^(CB)“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^(CC)my testimony is true, for I know ^(CD)where I came from and ^(CE)where I am going, but ^(CF)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (CG)You judge according to the flesh; ^(CH)I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, ^(CI)my judgment is true, for ^(CJ)it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[c] who sent me. ^17 (CK)In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^(CL)the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^(CM)“You know neither me nor my Father. ^(CN)If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in ^(CO)the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^(CP)no one arrested him, because ^(CQ)his hour had not yet come.

²¹ So he said to them again, ^(CR)“I am going away, and ^(CS)you will seek me, and ^(CT)you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews said, ^(CU)“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, ^(CV)“You are from below; I am from above. ^(CW)You are of this world; ^(CX)I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you ^(CY)would die in your sins, for ^(CZ)unless you believe that ^(DA)I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, ^(DB)“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have much to say about you and much to judge, but ^(DC)he who sent me is true, and I declare ^(DD)to the world ^(DE)what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that ^(DF)he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you have ^(DG)lifted up the Son of Man, ^(DH)then you will know that ^(DI)I am he, and that ^(DJ)I do nothing on my own authority, but ^(DK)speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹ And ^(DL)he who sent me is with me. ^(DM)He has not left me alone, for ^(DN)I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰ As he was saying these things, ^(DO)many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^(DP)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will ^(DQ)know the truth, and the truth ^(DR)will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, ^(DS)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(DT)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[d] to sin. ^35 (DU)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(DV)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(DW)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (DX)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(DY)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(DZ)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(EA)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(EB)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(EC)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(ED)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(EE)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(EF)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(EG)I came from God and ^(EH)I am here. ^(EI)I came not of my own accord, but ^(EJ)he sent me. ^43 (EK)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(EL)bear to hear my word. ^44 (EM)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(EN)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(EO)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(EP)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ^47 (EQ)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(ER)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(ES)you are not of God.”

Before Abraham Was, I Am

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and ^(ET)have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but ^(EU)I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet ^(EV)I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, ^(EW)I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(EX)see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! ^(EY)Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet ^(EZ)you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(FA)taste death.’ ^53 (FB)Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, ^(FC)“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. ^(FD)It is my Father who glorifies me, ^(FE)of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’^{[e] 55} But ^(FF)you have not known him. ^(FG)I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be ^(FH)a liar ^(FI)like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. ^56 (FJ)Your father Abraham ^(FK)rejoiced ^(FL)that he would see my day. ^(FM)He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”^{[f] 58} Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ^(FN)I am.” ⁵⁹ So ^(FO)they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, ^(FP)“Rabbi, ^(FQ)who sinned, ^(FR)this man or ^(FS)his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but ^(FT)that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must ^(FU)work the works of him who sent me ^(FV)while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, ^(FW)I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Having said these things, ^(FX)he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. ^(FY)Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in ^(FZ)the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and ^(GA)came back seeing.

⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ^(GB)“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, ^(GC)“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ^14 (GD)Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ^15 (GE)So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not ^(GF)from God, ^(GG)for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, ^(GH)“How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And ^(GI)there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, ^(GJ)“He is a prophet.”

^18 (GK)The Jews^[g] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things ^(GL)because they feared the Jews, for ^(GM)the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^(GN)confess Jesus^[h] to be Christ, ^(GO)he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³ Therefore his parents said, ^(GP)“He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^(GQ)“Give glory to God. We know that ^(GR)this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^(GS)was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, ^(GT)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^(GU)we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^(GV)we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is ^(GW)an amazing thing! ^(GX)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that ^(GY)God does not listen to sinners, but ^(GZ)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ^33 (HA)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, ^(HB)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^(HC)cast him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in ^(HD)the Son of Man?”^{[i] 36} He answered, ^(HE)“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and ^(HF)it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, ^(HG)“For judgment I came into this world, ^(HH)that those who do not see may see, and ^(HI)those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ^(HJ)“Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, ^(HK)you would have no guilt;^[j] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

I Am the Good Shepherd

10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ^5 (HL)A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ This figure of speech Jesus ^(HM)used with them, but they ^(HN)did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(HO)I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, ^(HP)he will be saved and will go in and out and ^(HQ)find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and ^(HR)kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ^11 (HS)I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd ^(HT)lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is ^(HU)a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ^(HV)leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and ^(HW)scatters them. ¹³ He flees because ^(HX)he is a hired hand and ^(HY)cares nothing for the sheep. ^14 (HZ)I am the good shepherd. ^(IA)I know my own and ^(IB)my own know me, ^15 (IC)just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and ^(ID)I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And ^(IE)I have other sheep that are not of this fold. ^(IF)I must bring them also, and ^(IG)they will listen to my voice. So there will be ^(IH)one flock, ^(II)one shepherd. ^17 (IJ)For this reason the Father loves me, ^(IK)because ^(IL)I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ^18 (IM)No one takes it from me, but ^(IN)I lay it down ^(IO)of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and ^(IP)I have authority to take it up again. ^(IQ)This charge I have received from my Father.”

^19 (IR)There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them said, ^(IS)“He has a demon, and ^(IT)is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. ^(IU)Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, ^(IV)in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ^(IW)the Christ, ^(IX)tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. ^(IY)The works that I do ^(IZ)in my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but ^(JA)you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ^27 (JB)My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ^28 (JC)I give them eternal life, and ^(JD)they will never perish, and ^(JE)no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, ^(JF)who has given them to me,^{[k] (JG)}is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of ^(JH)the Father's hand. ^30 (JI)I and the Father are one.”

^31 (JJ)The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but ^(JK)for blasphemy, because you, being a man, ^(JL)make yourself God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in ^(JM)your Law, ^(JN)‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be ^(JO)broken— ³⁶ do you say of him whom ^(JP)the Father consecrated and ^(JQ)sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because ^(JR)I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ^37 (JS)If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;