John 7:37-44

The Promise of the Spirit

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me ^[a] and drink!

38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ^[b] will have streams of living water flow from deep within him."

39 He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit^[c] had not yet been received,^{[d] [e]} 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!"^[f]

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 say that the Messiah comes from David's offspring^[g] and from the town of Bethlehem, where David once lived?"

43 So a division occurred among the crowd because of Him.

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

Footnotes

• [a]. Other mss omit to Me
• [b]. Jesus may have had several OT passages in mind; Isaiah 58:11; Ezk 47:1-12; Zch 14:8
• [c]. Other mss read Holy Spirit
• [d]. Other mss read had not yet been given
• [e]. Lit the Spirit was not yet; the word received is implied from the previous clause.
• [f]. Probably the Prophet in Dt 18:15
• [g]. Lit seed