John 7 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve

7 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, ^(A)because the ^[a]Jews sought to kill Him. ^{2 (B)}Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. ^{3 (C)}His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ For ^(D)even His ^(E)brothers did not believe in Him.

⁶ Then Jesus said to them, ^(F)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. ^{7 (G)}The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me ^(H)because I testify of it that its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to this feast. I am not ^[b]yet going up to this feast, ^(I)for My time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

The Heavenly Scholar

¹⁰ But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. ¹¹ Then ^(J)the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” ¹² And ^(K)there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. ^(L)Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” ¹³ However, no one spoke openly of Him ^(M)for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and ^(N)taught. ^{15 (O)}And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

^{16 [c]}Jesus answered them and said, ^(P)“My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ^{17 (Q)}If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. ^{18 (R)}He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who ^(S)seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and ^(T)no unrighteousness is in Him. ^{19 (U)}Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? ^(V)Why do you seek to kill Me?”

²⁰ The people answered and said, ^(W)“You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

²¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. ^{22 (X)}Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, ^(Y)but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because ^(Z)I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? ^{24 (AA)}Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Could This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to ^(AB)kill? ²⁶ But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. ^(AC)Do the rulers know indeed that this is ^[d]truly the Christ? ^{27 (AD)}However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, ^(AE)“You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and ^(AF)I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me ^(AG)is true, ^(AH)whom you do not know. ^{29 [e]}But ^(AI)I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

³⁰ Therefore ^(AJ)they sought to take Him; but ^(AK)no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. ³¹ And ^(AL)many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. ³³ Then Jesus said ^[f]to them, ^(AM)“I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I ^(AN)go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You ^(AO)will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you ^(AP)cannot come.”

³⁵ Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to ^(AQ)the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

^{37 (AR)}On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ^(AS)“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ^{38 (AT)}He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ^(AU)out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” ^{39 (AV)}But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those ^[g]believing in Him would receive; for the ^[h]Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet ^(AW)glorified.

Who Is He?

⁴⁰ Therefore ^[i]many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is ^(AX)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(AY)the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? ^{42 (AZ)}Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, ^(BA)where David was?” ⁴³ So ^(BB)there was a division among the people because of Him. ⁴⁴ Now ^(BC)some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

⁴⁵ Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(BD)“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus ^(BE)(he who came to ^[j]Jesus ^[k]by night, being one of them) said to them, ^{51 (BF)}“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

⁵² They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for ^(BG)no prophet ^[l]has arisen out of Galilee.”

An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World

^{53 [m]}And everyone went to his own house.

Footnotes

1. John 7:1 The ruling authorities
2. John 7:8 NU omits yet
3. John 7:16 NU, M So Jesus
4. John 7:26 NU omits truly
5. John 7:29 NU, M omit But
6. John 7:33 NU, M omit to them
7. John 7:39 NU who believed
8. John 7:39 NU omits Holy
9. John 7:40 NU some
10. John 7:50 Lit. Him
11. John 7:50 NU before
12. John 7:52 NU is to rise
13. John 7:53 NU brackets 7:53 through 8:11 as not in the original text. They are present in over 900 mss. of John.

Cross references

1. John 7:1 : Matt. 21:38; 26:4; John 5:18; 7:19, 25; 8:37, 40
2. John 7:2 : Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13–15; Neh. 8:14, 18; Zech. 14:16–19
3. John 7:3 : Matt. 12:46; Mark 3:21; John 7:5, 10; Acts 1:14
4. John 7:5 : Ps. 69:8; Mic. 7:6
5. John 7:5 : Matt. 12:46; 13:55; Mark 3:21; John 7:3, 10
6. John 7:6 : John 2:4; 8:20
7. John 7:7 : [John 15:19]
8. John 7:7 : John 3:19
9. John 7:8 : John 8:20
10. John 7:11 : John 11:56
11. John 7:12 : John 9:16; 10:19
12. John 7:12 : Matt. 21:46; Luke 7:16; John 6:14; 7:40
13. John 7:13 : [John 9:22; 12:42; 19:38]
14. John 7:14 : Ps. 22:22; Matt. 4:23; 5:2; 7:29; Mark 6:34; Luke 4:15; 5:3; John 8:2
15. John 7:15 : Matt. 13:54; Mark 6:2; [Luke 4:22]; Acts 2:7
16. John 7:16 : Deut. 18:15, 18, 19; John 3:11
17. John 7:17 : Ps. 25:9, 14; Prov. 3:32; Dan. 12:10; John 3:21; 8:43
18. John 7:18 : John 5:41
19. John 7:18 : John 8:50
20. John 7:18 : John 8:46; [2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22]
21. John 7:19 : Ex. 24:3; Deut. 33:4; Acts 7:38
22. John 7:19 : Matt. 12:14
23. John 7:20 : John 8:48, 52
24. John 7:22 : Lev. 12:3
25. John 7:22 : Gen. 17:9–14; Acts 7:8
26. John 7:23 : John 5:8, 9, 16
27. John 7:24 : Deut. 1:16; Prov. 24:23; John 8:15; James 2:1
28. John 7:25 : Matt. 21:38; 26:4; Luke 22:2; John 5:18; 8:37, 40
29. John 7:26 : John 7:48
30. John 7:27 : Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3; Luke 4:22
31. John 7:28 : John 8:14
32. John 7:28 : John 5:43
33. John 7:28 : Rom. 3:4
34. John 7:28 : John 1:18; 8:55
35. John 7:29 : Matt. 11:27; John 8:55; 17:25
36. John 7:30 : Mark 11:18
37. John 7:30 : Matt. 21:46; John 7:32, 44; 8:20; 10:39
38. John 7:31 : Matt. 12:23
39. John 7:33 : John 13:33
40. John 7:33 : [Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9; Heb. 9:24; 1 Pet. 3:22]
41. John 7:34 : Hos. 5:6
42. John 7:34 : [Matt. 5:20; 1 Cor. 6:9; 15:50; Rev. 21:27]
43. John 7:35 : Ps. 147:2; [Is. 11:12; 56:8; Zeph. 3:10]; James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1
44. John 7:37 : Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35; Neh. 8:18
45. John 7:37 : [Is. 55:1]
46. John 7:38 : Deut. 18:15
47. John 7:38 : Is. 12:3; 43:20; 44:3; 55:1; [John 6:35]; Rev. 21:6; 22:17
48. John 7:39 : Is. 44:3; [Joel 2:28]; John 1:33
49. John 7:39 : John 12:16; 13:31; 17:5
50. John 7:40 : Deut. 18:15, 18
51. John 7:41 : John 4:42; 6:69
52. John 7:42 : Ps. 132:11; Jer. 23:5; Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:5; [Luke 2:4]
53. John 7:42 : 1 Sam. 16:1, 4
54. John 7:43 : John 7:12
55. John 7:44 : John 7:30
56. John 7:46 : Matt. 13:54, 56; Luke 4:22
57. John 7:50 : John 3:1, 2; 19:39
58. John 7:51 : Deut. 1:16, 17; 19:15
59. John 7:52 : [Is. 9:1, 2]; Matt. 4:15