¹⁸ No one has ever seen God,^(A) but the one and only Son, who is himself God and^[a](B) is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^{(A) 17} Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(B) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,^(C) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law?^(D) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(E)

²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,”^(F) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(G) and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(H) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(I) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”^(J)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

²⁵ At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?^{(K) 26} Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(L) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^{(M) 27} But we know where this man is from;^(N) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(O) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(P) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(Q) You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him^(R) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(S)

³⁰ At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(T) because his hour had not yet come.^{(U) 31} Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(V) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(W) than this man?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³ Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time,^(X) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^{(Y) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(Z)

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^(AA) among the Greeks,^(AB) and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”^(AC)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(AD) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(AE) 38} Whoever believes^(AF) in me, as Scripture has said,^(AG) rivers of living water^(AH) will flow from within them.”^{[a](AI) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(AJ) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(AK) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(AL)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”^(AM)

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?^{(AN) 42} Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants^(AO) and from Bethlehem,^(AP) the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided^(AQ) because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^(AR)

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,”^(AS) the guards replied.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?”^(AT) the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?^{(AU) 49} No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(AV) who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”^(AW)

[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

⁵³ Then they all went home,

²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy,^(A) and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”^(B)

²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[a] the Son of Man,^(A) then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.^(B)

⁴⁹ For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me^(A) to say all that I have spoken.