John 7:32-53

32 When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.

33 So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me.

34 You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

35 At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, ^[a] and teach the Greeks?

36 What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Living Water

37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

39 He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, ^[b] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Division over Jesus

40 On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.”

41 Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee?

42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? ^[c]”

43 So there was division in the crowd because of Jesus.

44 Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.

The Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?”

46 “Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.

47 “Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees.

48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?

49 But this crowd that does not know the law—they are under a curse.”

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked,

51 “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”

52 “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.” ^[d]

53 Then each went to his own home.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally Will He go to the Diaspora among the Greeks; the Jewish people living outside the land of Israel since the Babylonian exile were referred to as the Diaspora.
• [b] Literally the Spirit was not yet; BYZ and TR the Holy Spirit was not yet
• [c] See Micah 5:2.
• [d] Some early manuscripts do not include John 7:53 through John 8:11.