John 7:32-52

New International Version

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,^(A) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^{(B) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(C)

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^(D) among the Greeks,^(E) 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’?”^(F)

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

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

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

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

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,”^(V) the guards replied.

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

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(Y) 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.”^(Z)