John 7 is the seventh chapter of the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

. It recounts Jesus' visit to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

for the

feast of Tabernacles or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei , ends = 21st day of Tishre ...

, the possibility of his

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

and debate as to whether he is the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

. The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

composed this

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. Alfred Plummer, in the

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...

, describes this chapter as "very important for the estimate of the fourth Gospel. In it the scene of the Messianic crisis shifts from

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

to Jerusalem; and, as we should naturally expect, the crisis itself becomes hotter. The divisions, the doubts, the hopes, the jealousies, and the

casuistry In ethics, casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and ju ...

of the Jews are vividly portrayed."

on John 7
accessed 25 April 2016 to is sometimes referred to as the "Tabernacles Discourse". Raymond E. Brown describes the Tabernacles Discourse as "a polemic collection of what Jesus said in replies to attacks by the Jewish authorities on his claims".

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 53 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 75 (AD 175–225) *

Papyrus 66 Papyrus 66 (also referred to as 𝔓66) is a near complete codex of the Gospel of John, and part of the collection known as the Bodmer Papyri. Description The manuscript contains John 1:1–6:11, 6:35b–14:26, 29–30; 15:2–26; 16:2–4, 6� ...

(c. 200). *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325-350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330-360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(c. 400) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400-440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(c. 450; extant verses 1–2)

Sub-divisions

The

New King James Version The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

organises this chapter as follows: * = Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve * = The Heavenly Scholar * = Could This Be the Christ? * = Jesus and the Religious Leaders * = The Promise of the Holy Spirit * = Who Is He? * = Rejected by the Authorities * = An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World (referring to John 7:53-8:12)

The Unbelief of Jesus’ Brothers (7:1–9)

The evangelist states that Jesus' brothers (or "brethren" in some translations) did not believe in Him () but they suggest that he goes to Jerusalem for the forthcoming Feast of Tabernacles, which was one of the three feasts which the

Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_ ...

prescribes that all Jewish men should attend (). They suggest that Jesus wants to publicise his works and that in Galilee his activities are hidden from the view of his Judean disciples (), but Jesus suggests that His brothers attend the feast but he will remain in Galilee. The Feast of Tabernacles began on 'the fifteenth day of the seventh month' (), i.e., the 15th of

Tishri Tishrei () or Tishri (; he, ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year ...

, which corresponds to September, so the interval from Passover to Tabernacles is about five months.Watkins, H. W., in Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.
''Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers''
on , accessed 18 April 2016 Jesus says that it is "their time" to go to Jerusalem, but "his time" ( gr, καιρὸς) has not yet come.

Verse 1

:''After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.'' Chapter 7 opens in Galilee, where the events and discourses of the previous chapter have taken place. In Galilee, Jesus had taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, but many people including many of his own disciples, had refused to believe. implies that nevertheless Jesus felt safe in Galilee, whereas in

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...

or "Jewry" (e.g.

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

), the Jews (or the Jewish ruling authorities) wanted to kill Jesus. He probably did not go to Jerusalem for the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

mentioned in , although theologian John Gill suggested that "he went to Jerusalem, to keep the passover; and finding that the Jews still sought to take away his life, he returned to Galilee, and 'walked' there". Gill, John
''Exposition of the Entire Bible''
on John 7, accessed 17 April 2016 Chapters 5, 6 and 7 all commence with the words μετα ταυτα (''meta tauta''), "after these things", "a typical Johannine transition" (chapter 7: and after these things).

Verse 3

:''His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing". The "

brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

", unlike the "disciples", are still unbelievers. Plummer notes that He observes the bluntness of the suggestion in verse 3, ''Depart from here'', "given almost as a command", which "shews that they presumed upon their near relationship. It would be more natural in the mouths of men older than Christ, and therefore is in favour of their being sons of Joseph by a former marriage".

Verse 4

:''People don't hide what they are doing if they want to be well known. Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you!”''

Johann Bengel Johann Albrecht Bengel (24 June 1687 – 2 November 1752), also known as ''Bengelius'', was a Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it. Life and career Be ...

describes the brothers' reasoning as a use of the

rhetorical device In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, ...

''diasyrmus''.Bengel, Johann
''Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament''
on John 7, accessed 13 November 2020

Verse 8

: esus said to His brothers:"''You go up to the 'or ''thisfeast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.''"

Feast of Tabernacles (7:10–52)

Jesus does then go to Jerusalem for the feast. The evangelist unfolds his attendance in three steps: *He initially directs that his brothers will attend but He will remain in Galilee () *Afterwards he does go to Jerusalem, "not openly, but as it were in secret" (, NKJV translation) ( gr, ως εν κρυπτω) *"But when the middle feast day came, Jesus went up into the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, and taught" (,

Wycliffe Bible Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of English theologian John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395. These Bible translati ...

). H. W. Watkins supposes that the main party travelling from Galilee to Jerusalem would have taken the route to the east of the

River Jordan The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

, and that Jesus took the alternative route through

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

, as he had done when he travelled back from Jerusalem to Galilee in chapter 4 and the

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary refers to a biblical commentary entitled a ''Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible'', prepared by Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset and David Brown and published in 1871; and ...

agrees that He may have travelled "perhaps by some other route".Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
on John 7, accessed 20 April 2016 When Jesus began to teach in the Temple, he was perceived as being uneducated and yet learned (), not having received rabbinical, priestly or Sadduceean training. Jesus was known not to have learned through contemporary routes of Jewish learning such as the

House of Hillel The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were, among Jewish scholars, two schools of thought during the period of tannaim, named after the sages Hillel and Shammai (of the last century BCE and the early 1st century CE) ...

or the

House of Shammai The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were, among Jewish scholars, two schools of thought during the period of tannaim, named after the sages Hillel and Shammai (of the last century BCE and the early 1st century C ...

, and it is likely that both the content and the style of His teaching were seen as distinct from the teaching of the "Jews" of these schools, to whom the evangelist refers. "His teaching on this occasion was expository", based on the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Albert Barnes writes that "Jesus exhibited in his discourses such a profound acquaintance with the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

as to excite heamazement and admiration" Barnes, Albert
''Notes on the Bible''
on John 7, accessed 21 April 2016 of other learned scholars, but He explains that His teaching is not His own, but "but His who sent Me" (). Jesus does not disown His teaching, but He does not claim to be its originator or its authority: :"The 'my' refers to the teaching itself, the 'mine' to the ultimate authority on which it rests. I am not a self-taught Man, as though out of the depths of my own independent human consciousness I span it ... 'He who sent me' gave tto me. I have been in intimate communion with HIM. All that I say is Divine thought."Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors)
On John 7
In: ''The

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entri ...

''. 23 volumes, accessed 22 April 2016 The evangelist has already referred to four witnesses to the validity of Jesus' testimony (), and now adds that anyone who wants to do God's will know the authority of His teaching ().

Learned discussion on Laws

In a discussion which demonstrates this point to the learned Jews, Jesus then refers to the

Mosaic law The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...

, and to the law and tradition of the

patriarchs The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certa ...

. The law of circumcision prescribed by

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

() originated with God's covenant with Abraham and required every male child to be

circumcised Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Topic ...

on his eighth day. If this day was a

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as ...

, the obligation to circumcise that day overrode the obligation to rest on the Sabbath (). Jews familiar with both laws would also have been familiar with the rule of precedence between them. But Jesus then refers to the

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

at the Temple on the Sabbath day of a man who had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years (), on account of which the Jews wanted to kill Jesus (): :"Are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?" () The responses to Jesus' teaching identified in this section are: *Some people were impressed: "He is good" (, a) *Others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people" (, b) *Discussion is restricted: "no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews" () *Some people marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" () *Some wanted to kill Him () *Some suggested He was "crazy and perhaps paranoid": "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?" () *Some were angry with Him () *Some recognized Him as the

and believed in Him () *Some denied that He could be the Messiah: "We know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from" () *No one laid a hand on Him, because (according to the evangelist), "His hour had not yet come". () The debate or "murmurings" about whether Jesus could be the Messiah came to the attention of the

Pharisees The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs b ...

, and they and the Chief Priests "sent officers in order to take him into custody".(). In this verse and in verse , "the reader is for the first time informed that the Pharisees and the chief priests try to arrest Jesus but do not succeed. This anticipates their new initiatives in chapters 9 to 12, where they finally achieve their plans. Kieffer, R., ''John'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)
The Oxford Bible Commentary
p. 974

Jesus' impending departure

Then Jesus said "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." () The evangelist has noted twice in this chapter that Jesus' time has not yet come ( and ), but in a little while ( gr, ετι χρονον μικρον), the time will come for Jesus to depart. The word in gr, ὑπάγω, ''I go away'', is a distinctively Johannine word, used 15 times throughout the gospel. The

suggests that "a little while" amounts to six months, as "six months would bring round the last Passover". The statement "You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come" produces consternation and the Jewish scholars suppose that Jesus might be intending to visit the Jews of the diaspora "where our people live scattered among the Greeks" (John 7:35 -

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest a ...

translation), and also to teach the Greeks themselves. According to (referring to the Feast of Pentecost in the year after the Feast of Tabernacles described here), "there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven". The Jews therefore contemplate whether Jesus might be planning to visit their home cities and teach in their synagogues. Theologian Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer regards the Jews' supposition as "an insolent and scornful supposition, which they themselves, however, do not deem probable (therefore the question is asked with gr, μή, ''not'')"Meyer's NT Commentary
on John 7, accessed 28 April 2016 Non-conformist theologian

Philip Doddridge Philip Doddridge D.D. (26 June 1702 – 26 October 1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter. Early life Philip Doddridge was born in London the last of the twenty children of ...

described it as "a sarcasm" and the

International Standard Version The ''International Standard Version'' or ISV is a new English translation of the Bible for which translation was complete and published electronically in 2011. The texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been used to provide a textual apparatus for ...

offers the translation as follows:

Verse 35

:''"Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and oteach the Greeks, is he?"'' However, it is not an unreasonable supposition, as the mission to the Jewish diaspora formed "the very mode of proceeding afterwards adopted by the Apostles" and the

synoptic gospels The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose ...

represent Jesus as having visited "the region of Tyre and Sidon" to teach, and as having healed there "the daughter of a Greek woman, a Syro-Phoenician by birth" (). The evangelist leaves this section with a question which remains unanswered:

Verse 36

:''"What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"''

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

asks the same question of Jesus when He has privately told His disciples that He is leaving them, and "where

e is E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...

going,

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title ...

cannot come". Peter is told "you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterwards” ().

The promise of the Holy Spirit

Verses 37-38

:On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ::"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ::He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The

Book of Leviticus The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...

prescribed that the Feast of Tabernacles should last for seven days, and that on the eighth day: :''You shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.'' () On this sacred day, Jesus stood (presumably at the Temple) and cried out: :''If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the

Scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'' () Many translations include the scriptural reference within the words Jesus cried out. The

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonica ...

breaks up the text differently: :... Jesus stood there and cried out: ::"If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! ::Let the man come and drink who believes in me!" :''As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.'' The quote "''If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink''" is a reference to Isaiah 55:1. Meyer explains that "there is no exactly corresponding passage, indeed, in Scripture" for the words ''out of his heart will flow rivers of living water''. He suggests that "it is simply a free quotation harmonizing in thought with parts of various passages, especially , and ". The writer himself notes, explaining the figurative expressions of Christ, that Jesus was speaking of the olySpirit, whom those believing in him would receive (later): "the olySpirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (). Literally, the text states "the (Holy) Spirit was not yet", but this "strange and startling statement" is best read as "the Holy Ghost (Spirit) was not yet given; the word "given" is not in the original text; but is very properly supplied, as it is in the Vulgate Latin,

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

, and Persic versions. The Arabic version renders it, "for the Holy Ghost was not yet come". Some portion of Jesus' audience, on hearing His words, said "this is certainly the Prophet" (). In the

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant deno ...

and English translations drawn from it, the number described as recognizing Jesus as the Prophet is gr, πολλοὶ, ''many'', but Watkins advises that "the reading of the best manuscripts is, ''some of the people therefore, when they heard these sayings ...''" The reference is to the prophet foretold by Moses in , who was expected to precede the coming of the Messiah. Others went further: "This is the Christ" (John 7:41). The people of Jerusalem, debating at whether Jesus could be the Messiah, cast doubt on this interpretation of Jesus' works because "when the Christ comes, no one

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

know where He is from”. In John 7:42, some of the crowd reason that "the Christ

come from the seed of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and from the town of

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

, where David was” and therefore Jesus, who came from Galilee, could not be the Messiah.

Verse 42

:''Has not the Scripture said that the

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

comes from the seed of David and from the town of

, where

was?”'' It is written in Micah 5:2: :''But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times'' ( NIV) The Gospels of

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

and Luke give an account of how Jesus of

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

in Galilee could also be from Bethlehem, as He was born there, but John's Gospel has no parallel account. The Pulpit Commentary identifies a number of theologians ( De Wette, Baur, Weisse, Keim and others) who "have tried to prove from this that the evangelist was ignorant of Christ's birth at Bethlehem", whereas Bengel argued that "John takes hisfor granted as known from the other evangelists". So opinion about Jesus was "divided" () - a gr, σχίσμα arose, "whence our word ‘

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

’, meaning 'a serious and possibly violent division'" is derived. This division extended to the issue of whether Jesus should be arrested: "some of them" - "i.e.

ome Ome may refer to: Places * Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora * Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo * Ome (crater), a crater on Mars Tran ...

of those who refused to accord him Messianic reception because he had not commenced his ministry at Bethlehem, and had not flaunted his Davidic ancestry" - wanted to arrest Him, but "no one laid a hand on him" (). The chief priests and the Pharisees questioned why Jesus had not been detained - in they had dispatched officers for this purpose - and the returning officers replied that "No man ever spoke like this Man" (). Ellicott states that "some of the oldest manuscripts, including the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, have a shorter text, ''Never man spake thus''; but the longer reading is to be preferred", with the additional words gr, ὡς οὗτος λαλεῖ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ''as this man speaks'', which are retained by the

. The officers "were so impressed and awed with what he said that they dared not take him"; the Pharisees said they were "deceived" (), suggesting that none of the rulers - "the members of the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin ( Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , '' synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as " rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temp ...

, who were supposed to have control over the religious rites and doctrines of the nation - had believed. The evangelist reminds his readers that

Nicodemus Nicodemus (; grc-gre, Νικόδημος, Nikódēmos) was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John: * He first visits Jesus one night to discuss Jesus' teachings (). * The second time Nicodemu ...

, "one of them" (i.e. one of the Sanhedrin) had met Jesus before (). Nicodemus reminds his colleagues:

Verse 51

:''"Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"'' This is reminder of the words in : :''You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike'' () The Sanhedrin advises Nicodemus that he should study the scriptures further:

Verse 52

:''They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."''

Pericope Adulterae (7:53–8:11)

Verse 53

:''And everyone went to his own house.'' At this point, the division of the text into chapters (attributed to

Stephen Langton Stephen Langton (c. 1150 – 9 July 1228) was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228. The dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III over his ...

) brings chapter 7 to its close, with the words "Then they all went home". Chapter 8 opens with the words " t Jesus went to the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

Young's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of '' Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' and ''Concise Critical Comments on the New T ...

and the

both unite these phrases as a single sentence. Bengel argues for Jesus' visit to the Mount of Olives to be treated as part of chapter 7. The Pulpit Commentary queries whether the departure home refers only to the breaking up of the Sanhedrin (with Barnes) or to "the scattering of the crowd or the return of the pilgrims to Galilee". The pilgrims' return home at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles provides a natural end to the chapter, but "a very improbable consequence of verse 52". The

pericope A pericope (; Greek , "a cutting-out") in rhetoric is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture. Also can be used as a way to identify certain themes in a cha ...

commencing with John 7:53 is considered canonical, but not found in most of the early Greek Gospel manuscripts. It is not in P⁶⁶ or in P⁷⁵, both of which have been assigned to the late 100s or early 200s. Nor is it in two important manuscripts produced in the early/mid 300s, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. The first surviving Greek manuscript to contain the pericope is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

/Greek diglot

, produced in the 400s or 500s (but displaying a form of text which has affinities with "Western" readings used in the 100s and 200s). Codex Bezae is also the earliest surviving Latin manuscript to contain it. Out of 23 Old Latin manuscripts of John 7- 8, seventeen contain at least part of the pericope, and represent at least three transmission-streams in which it was included. The New King James Version includes the text with the explanation that the words from John 7:53 to 8:11 are bracketed by NU-Text "as not original. They are present in over 900 manuscripts of John" and the

claims "the author of this passage is not John".Jerusalem Bible, reference at John 7:53

References

Sources

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Gospel of John John 07