Chapter 7

Now after these things Jesus went about in Galilee, for he did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to put him to death.

Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

His brethren therefore said to him, "Leave here and go into Judea that thy disciples also may see the works that thou dost;

for no one does a thing in secret if he wants to be publicly known. If thou dost these things, manifest thyself to the world."

For not even his brethren believed in him.

Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, by your time is always at hand.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness concerning it, that its works are evil.

As for you, go up to the feast, but I do not go up to this feast, for my time is not yet fulfilled."

When he had said these things he stayed on in Galilee.

But as soon as his brethren had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were privately.

The Jews therefore were looking for him at the feast, and were saying, "Where is he? "

And there was much whispered comment among the crowd concerning him. For some were saying, "He is a good man." But others were saying, "No, rather he seduces the crowd."

Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

When, however, the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.

And the Jews marvelled, saying, "How does this man come by learning, since he has not studied?" The Source of Christ's Teachings

Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not my own, but his who sent me.

If anyone desires to do his will, he will know of the teaching whether it is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority.

He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and their is no injustice in him.

Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you observes the Law?

Why do you seek to put me to death?" The crowd answered and said, "Thou hast a devil. Who seeks to put thee to death? "

Jesus answered and said to them, "One work I did and you all wonder.

For this reason Moses gave you the circumcision"---not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers---"and on a Sabbath you circumcise a man.

If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath, that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you indignant with me because I made a whole man well on a Sabbath?

Judge not by appearances by give just judgment." Christ's Origin

Some therefore of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is not this the man they seek to kill?

And behold, he speaks openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers have really come to know that this is the Christ?

Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."

Jesus therefore, while teaching in the temple, cried out and said, "You both know me, and know where I am from. Yet I have not come of myself, but he is true who has sent me, whom you do not know.

I know him because I am from him, and he has sent me."

They wanted therefore to seize him, but no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come.

Many of the people, however, believed in him, and they kept saying, "When the Christ comes will he work more signs than this man works? "

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him, and the rulers and Pharisees sent attendants to seize him.

Jesus then said, "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to him who sent me.

You will seek me and will not find me; and where I am you cannot come."

The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where is he going that we shall not find him? Will he go to those dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?

What is this statement that he has made, 'You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come'? "

Now on the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, 'From within him there shall flow rivers of living water. '"*

He said this, however, of the Spirit whom they who believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Some of the crowd, therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the Prophet."

Others said, "This is the Christ." Some, however, said, "Can the Christ come from Galilee?

Does not the Scripture say that it is of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived, that the Christ is to come? "

So there arose a division among the crowd because of him.

And some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

The attendants therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and these said to them, "Why have you not brought him? "

The attendants answered, "Never has man spoken as this man."

The Pharisees then answered them, "Have you also been led astray?

Has any one of the rulers believed in him, or any of the Pharisees?

But this crowd, which does not know the Law, is accursed."

Nicodemus, he who had come to him at night, who was one of them, said to them,

"Does our Law judge a man unless it first give him a hearing, and know what he does? "

They answered and said to him, "Art thou also a Galilean? Search the Scriptures and see that out of Galilee arises no prophet."

And they returned each one to his own house.