Joh 7 | HCSB | STEP | After this , Jesus traveled in Galilee , since He did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill Him .

‏ John 7

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers

1 After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, ^a since He did not want to travel in Judea ^b because the ^{▼▼Jew(s): In Jn the term Jews usually indicates those in Israel who were opposed to Jesus, particularly the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem who led the nation.}Jews ^d were trying to kill Him. ^e 2 The Jewish Festival of Tabernacles ^{▼▼Or Booths
,} ^{▼▼One of 3 great Jewish religious festivals, along with Passover and Pentecost; Ex 23:14; Dt 16:16
,} ^h was near, 3 so His brothers ⁱ said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea so Your disciples can see Your works ^j that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he’s seeking public recognition. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 (For not even His brothers believed in Him.)

6 Jesus told them, “My time ^k has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. 7 The world cannot hate ^l you, but it does hate Me because I testify about it – that its deeds are evil. 8 Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to the festival yet, ^{▼▼Other mss omit yet} because My time has not yet fully come.” 9 After He had said these things, He stayed in Galilee.

Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles

10 After His brothers had gone up to the festival, then He also went up, not openly but secretly. 11 The Jews were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is He?” 12 And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good ⁿ man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving ^o the people.” 13 Still, nobody was talking publicly about Him because they feared the Jews.

14 When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the ^{▼▼temple complex: In the Jerusalem temple, the complex included the sanctuary (the holy place and the holy of holies), at least 4 courtyards (for priests, Jewish men, Jewish women, and Gentiles), numerous gates, and several covered walkways.}temple complex ^q and began to teach. 15 Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How does He know the Scriptures, ^r since He hasn’t been trained?”

16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t Mine but is from the One who sent Me. ^s 17 If anyone wants to do His will, ^t he will understand whether the teaching is from God or if I am speaking on My own. 18 The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory. ^u But He who seeks the glory ^v of the One who sent Him is true, ^w and there is no unrighteousness in Him. ^x 19 Didn’t Moses ^y give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law! ^z Why do you want to kill Me?”

20 “You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who wants to kill You?”

21 “I did one work, ^aa and you are all amazed,” Jesus answered. 22 “Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision ^ab – not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers ^ac – and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ^ad 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath ^ae so that the law of Moses ^af won’t be broken, are you angry at Me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging ^ag according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”

The Identity of the Messiah

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem ^ah were saying, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? 26 Yet, look! He’s speaking publicly and they’re saying nothing to Him. Can it be true that the authorities ^ai know He is the ^{▼▼Messiah: Or the Christ; the Greek word Christos means "the anointed one".}Messiah? ^ak 27 But we know where this man is from. ^al When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where He is from.”

28 As He was teaching in the temple complex, ^am Jesus cried out, “You know Me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me ^an is true. You don’t know Him; ^ao 29 I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” ^ap

30 Then they tried to seize Him. Yet no one laid a hand on Him because His hour ^{▼▼The time of His sacrificial death and exaltation; Jn 2:4; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1} had not yet come. 31 However, many from the crowd believed in Him and said, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this man has done, ^ar will He?”

32 The ^{▼▼Pharisee(s): In Judaism a religious sect that followed the whole written and oral law}Pharisees ^at heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, so the ^{▼▼chief priest(s): A group of Jewish temple officers that included the highpriest, captain of the temple, temple overseers, and treasurers}chief priests ^av and the Pharisees sent temple police to arrest Him.

33 Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. ^aw Then I’m going to the One who sent Me. ^ax 34 You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ^ay

35 Then the Jews ^az said to one another, “Where does He intend to go so we won’t find Him? He doesn’t intend to go to the Dispersion ^{▼▼Jewish people scattered throughout Gentile lands who spoke Gk and were influenced by Gk culture
,} ^bb among the Greeks ^bc and teach the Greeks, does He? 36 What is this remark He made: ‘You will look for Me, and you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’ ^bd?”

The Promise of the Spirit

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, ^be Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me ^{▼▼Other mss omit to Me
,} ^bg and drink! ^bh 38 The one who believes in Me, ^bi as the Scripture ^bj has said, ^{▼▼Jesus may have had several OT passages in mind; Isa 58:11; Ezk 47:1-12; Zch 14:8} will have streams of living water ^bl flow ^bm from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. ^bn Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, ^bo for the Spirit ^{▼▼Other mss read Holy Spirit} had not yet been received ^{▼▼Other mss read had not yet been given
,} ^{▼▼Lit the Spirit was not yet; the word received is implied from the previous clause.} because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The People Are Divided over Jesus

40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This really is the Prophet!” ^{▼▼Probably the Prophet in Dt 18:15
,} ^bt 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah!” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does He? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture ^bu say that the Messiah comes from David’s ^bv offspring ^{▼▼Lit seed} and from the town of Bethlehem, ^bx where David once lived?” 43 So a division ^by occurred among the crowd because of Him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize Him, ^bz but no one laid hands on Him.

Debate over Jesus’ Claims

45 Then the temple police ^ca came to the chief priests ^cb and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?”

46 The police answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” ^{▼▼Other mss read like this man
,} ^cd

47 Then the Pharisees responded to them: “Are you fooled ^ce too? 48 Have any of the rulers ^cf or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed!”

50 Nicodemus ^cg – the one who came to Him previously, being one of them – said to them, 51 “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?” ^ch

52 “You aren’t from Galilee ^ci too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” ^{▼▼Jonah and probably other prophets did come from Galilee; 2Kg 14:25
,} ^ck[ 53 So each one went to his house.