John 7-8

GOD’S WORD Translation

Jesus Goes to the Festival of Booths

7 Jesus later traveled throughout Galilee. He didn’t want to travel in Judea because Jews there wanted to kill him.

² The time for the Jewish Festival of Booths was near. ³ So Jesus’ brothers told him, “Leave this place, and go to Judea so that your disciples can see the things that you’re doing. ⁴ No one does things secretly when he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, you should let the world see you.” ⁵ Even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

⁶ Jesus told them, “Now is not the right time for me to go. Any time is right for you. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I say that what everyone does is evil. ⁸ Go to the festival. I’m not going to this festival right now. Now is not the right time for me to go.”

⁹ After saying this, Jesus stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone to the festival, Jesus went. He didn’t go publicly but secretly.

¹¹ The Jews were looking for Jesus in the crowd at the festival. They kept asking, “Where is that man?” ¹² The crowds argued about Jesus. Some people said, “He’s a good man,” while others said, “No he isn’t. He deceives the people.” ¹³ Yet, no one would talk openly about him because they were afraid of the Jews.

¹⁴ When the festival was half over, Jesus went to the temple courtyard and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were surprised and asked, “How can this man be so educated when he hasn’t gone to school?”

¹⁶ Jesus responded to them, “What I teach doesn’t come from me but from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Those who want to follow the will of God will know if what I teach is from God or if I teach my own thoughts. ¹⁸ Those who speak their own thoughts are looking for their own glory. But the man who wants to bring glory to the one who sent him is a true teacher and doesn’t have dishonest motives. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moses give you his teachings? Yet, none of you does what Moses taught you. So why do you want to kill me?”

²⁰ The crowd answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! Who wants to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus answered them, “I performed one miracle, and all of you are surprised by it. ²² Moses gave you the teaching about circumcision (although it didn’t come from Moses but from our ancestors). So you circumcise a male on a day of rest—a holy day. ²³ If you circumcise a male on the day of rest—a holy day, to follow Moses’ Teachings, why are you angry with me because I made a man entirely well on the day of rest—a holy day? ²⁴ Stop judging by outward appearance! Instead, judge correctly.”

²⁵ Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? ²⁶ But look at this! He’s speaking in public, and no one is saying anything to him! Can it be that the rulers really know that this man is the Messiah? ²⁷ However, we know where this man comes from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then, while Jesus was teaching in the temple courtyard, he said loudly, “You know me, and you know where I come from. I didn’t decide to come on my own. The one who sent me is true. He’s the one you don’t know. ²⁹ I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

³⁰ The Jews tried to arrest him but couldn’t because his time had not yet come.

³¹ However, many people in the crowd believed in him. They asked, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more miracles than this man has?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd saying things like this about him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Jesus.

³³ Jesus said, “I will still be with you for a little while. Then I’ll go to the one who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you won’t find me. You can’t go where I’m going.”

³⁵ The Jews said among themselves, “Where does this man intend to go so that we won’t find him? Does he mean that he’ll live with the Jews who are scattered among the Greeks and that he’ll teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘You can’t go where I’m going’?”

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus was standing ⌞in the temple courtyard⌟. He said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. ³⁸ As Scripture says, ‘Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.’ ” ³⁹ Jesus said this about the Spirit, whom his believers would receive. The Spirit was not yet evident, as it would be after Jesus had been glorified.

⁴⁰ After some of the crowd heard Jesus say these words, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet.” ⁴¹ Other people said, “This man is the Messiah.” Still other people asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the descendants of David and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?” ⁴³ So the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but they couldn’t.

⁴⁵ When the temple guards returned, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”

⁴⁶ The temple guards answered, “No human has ever spoken like this man.”

⁴⁷ The Pharisees asked the temple guards, “Have you been deceived too? ⁴⁸ Has any ruler or any Pharisee believed in him? ⁴⁹ This crowd is cursed because it doesn’t know Moses’ Teachings.”

⁵⁰ One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who had previously visited Jesus. Nicodemus asked them, ⁵¹ “Do Moses’ Teachings enable us to judge a person without first hearing that person’s side of the story? We can’t judge a person without finding out what that person has done.”

⁵² They asked Nicodemus, “Are you saying this because you’re from Galilee? Study ⌞the Scriptures⌟, and you’ll see that no prophet comes from Galilee.” ^[a]

⁵³ Then each of them went home.

A Woman Caught in Adultery

8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early the next morning he returned to the temple courtyard. All the people went to him, so he sat down and began to teach them.

³ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone ⁴ and asked Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the act of adultery. ⁵ In his teachings, Moses ordered us to stone women like this to death. What do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him. They wanted to find a reason to bring charges against him.

Jesus bent down and used his finger to write on the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking him questions, he straightened up and said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ One by one, beginning with the older men, the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees left. Jesus was left alone with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Where did they go? Has anyone condemned you?”

¹¹ The woman answered, “No one, sir.”

Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you either. Go! From now on don’t sin.”

Jesus Speaks with the Pharisees about His Father

¹² Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark.”

¹³ The Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony isn’t true.”

¹⁴ Jesus replied to them, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true because I know where I came from and where I’m going. However, you don’t know where I came from or where I’m going. ¹⁵ You judge the way humans do. I don’t judge anyone. ¹⁶ Even if I do judge, my judgment is valid because I don’t make it on my own. I make my judgment with the Father who sent me. ¹⁷ Your own teachings say that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”

¹⁹ The Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?”

Jesus replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰ Jesus spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury area of the temple courtyard. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹ Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I’m going away, and you’ll look for me. But you will die because of your sin. You can’t go where I’m going.”

²² Then the Jews asked, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means when he says, ‘You can’t go where I’m going’?”

²³ Jesus said to them, “You’re from below. I’m from above. You’re from this world. I’m not from this world. ²⁴ For this reason I told you that you’ll die because of your sins. If you don’t believe that I am the one, you’ll die because of your sins.”

²⁵ The Jews asked him, “Who did you say you are?”

Jesus told them, “I am who I said I was from the beginning. ²⁶ I have a lot I could say about you and a lot I could condemn you for. But the one who sent me is true. So I tell the world exactly what he has told me.” ²⁷ (The Jews didn’t know that he was talking to them about the Father.)

²⁸ So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you’ll know that I am the one and that I can’t do anything on my own. Instead, I speak as the Father taught me. ²⁹ Besides, the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me by myself. I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ As Jesus was saying this, many people believed in him. ³¹ So Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you live by what I say, you are truly my disciples. ³² You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ They replied to Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. So how can you say that we will be set free?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: Whoever lives a sinful life is a slave to sin. ³⁵ A slave doesn’t live in the home forever, but a son does. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free. ³⁷ I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants. However, you want to kill me because you don’t like what I’m saying. ³⁸ What I’m saying is what I have seen in my Father’s presence. But you do what you’ve heard from your father.”

³⁹ The Jews replied to Jesus, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ I am a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. But now you want to kill me. Abraham wouldn’t have done that. ⁴¹ You’re doing what your father does.”

The Jews said to Jesus, “We’re not illegitimate children. God is our only Father.”

⁴² Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me. After all, I’m here, and I came from God. I didn’t come on my own. Instead, God sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand the language I use? Is it because you can’t understand the words I use? ⁴⁴ You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ So you don’t believe me because I tell the truth. ⁴⁶ Can any of you convict me of committing a sin? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ The person who belongs to God understands what God says. You don’t understand because you don’t belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews replied to Jesus, “Aren’t we right when we say that you’re a Samaritan and that you’re possessed by a demon?”

⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I’m not possessed. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I don’t want my own glory. But there is someone who wants it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ I can guarantee this truth: Whoever obeys what I say will never see death.”

⁵² The Jews told Jesus, “Now we know that you’re possessed by a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, ‘Whoever does what I say will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets have also died. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴ Jesus said, “If I bring glory to myself, my glory is nothing. My Father is the one who gives me glory, and you say that he is your God. ⁵⁵ Yet, you haven’t known him. However, I know him. If I would say that I didn’t know him, I would be a liar like all of you. But I do know him, and I do what he says. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy.”

⁵⁷ The Jews said to Jesus, “You’re not even fifty years old. How could you have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: Before Abraham was ever born, I am.”

⁵⁹ Then some of the Jews picked up stones to throw at Jesus. However, Jesus was concealed, and he left the temple courtyard.