John 7:40-53

Division of People over Jesus

40 Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, "This certainly is ¹the Prophet."

41 Others were saying, "This is the Christ." Still others were saying, "²Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?

42 "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from ³the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"

43 So ⁴a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.

44 ⁵Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

45 The ⁶officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why * did you not bring Him?"

46 The ⁷officers answered, "⁸Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks."

47 The Pharisees then answered them, "⁹You have not also been led astray, have you?

48 "¹⁰No one of ¹¹the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?

49 "But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed."

50 ¹²Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them,

51 "¹³Our Law does not judge a man unless * it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?"

52 They answered him, "¹⁴You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee."

53 [Everyone went to his home.

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 21:11; John 1:21
• 2. John 1:46; John 7:52
• 3. Psalms 89:4; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:1; Matthew 2:5; Luke 2:4f
• 4. John 9:16; John 10:19
• 5. John 7:30
• 6. John 7:32
• 7. John 7:32
• 8. Matthew 7:28
• 9. John 7:12
• 10. John 12:42
• 11. Luke 23:13; John 7:26
• 12. John 3:1; John 19:39
• 13. Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; Proverbs 18:13; Acts 23:3
• 14. John 1:46; John 7:41

Footnotes

• [a]. I.e. the Messiah
• [b]. I.e. the Messiah
• [c]. Later mss add the story of the adulterous woman, numbering it as John 7:53-8:11