John 7:28-53

28Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, 29but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

30So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31Many in the crowd, however, believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He perform more signs than this man?”

32When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him. 33So Jesus said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. 34You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

35At 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,1 and teach the Greeks? 36What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

37On 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. 38Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’” 39He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given,2 because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

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

41Others declared, “This is the Christ.”

But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?3”

43So there was division in the crowd because of Jesus. 44Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.

45Then 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? 49But this crowd that does not know the law—they are under a curse.”

50Nicodemus, 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.”4

53Then each went to his own home.