John 7

₁Jesus went to many places in the province of Galilee. He did not go to the province of Judea because the Jews there wanted to kill Him. ₂It was near the time of the Jewish Feast_of_shelters. ₃Jesus' brothers said to Him: ‘You must go to Judea, and then your disciples can see what miracles You do. ₄It does not help when You do something but no one can see it, because then no one will know who You are. You must do these miracles so that all the people can see it is You who are doing them.’

₅Jesus' brothers did not believe in Him. ₆Jesus said to them: ‘It is not the right time for Me to go. But any time is right for you. ₇The people of the world can not hate you, but they hate Me because I tell them that they do what is wrong. ₈You can go to the feast. I will not go because it is not the right time for Me to go now.’

₉After Jesus had talked to his brothers, He stayed in Galilee.

₁₀Some time after Jesus' brothers went to the feast, Jesus decided to go to the feast, but He did not want the people to know that He was there. ₁₁At the feast the Jews were looking for Jesus. They asked: ‘Where is that Man?’

₁₂The people talked a lot about Jesus. Some people said Jesus was a good Man and other people said He was not good. They said He lied to the people. ₁₃They were afraid of the Jewish_leaders so they did not say anything good about Jesus in front of all the people. ₁₄On the 4th day of the feast Jesus went to the temple and He started to teach the people. ₁₅The Jews were amazed when they heard Him. They said: ‘How does He know so many things? No one has taught Him.’

₁₆Jesus told them: ‘The things that I teach you do not come from Me. They come from God who has sent Me to the world. ₁₇Anyone who really wants to do what God wants will know that the things I teach come from God. He will know that this teaching does not come from Me. ₁₈A person who teaches people things that come from himself wants people to think that he is important. This is not what I do. I want people to know that God, who sent Me to the world, is important. That is why people can believe Me and know that I do not lie. ₁₉Moses gave you the laws but not one of you listens and does what the laws say. Why do you want to kill Me?’

₂₀The people said to Jesus: ‘You are mad. No one is trying to kill You.’ ₂₁Jesus said to them: ‘I did one miracle and you are surprised because I did it on the Sabbath day. ₂₂But you circumcise your sons on the Sabbath day. Moses told you to circumcise your sons, and your forefathers did it even before Moses was born. ₂₃You circumcise boys on the Sabbath day to obey the laws of Moses. Why are you angry with Me when I heal a man's whole body on the Sabbath day? ₂₄Do not judge people on what you can see. Judge them because of what is really right.’

₂₅Some of the people in Jerusalem said: ‘There is the Man that the leaders want to kill. ₂₆But look, He speaks to all the people and no one is arguing with Him or saying that He is wrong. Maybe the leaders think that He is the Christ. ₂₇But this Man can not be Christ, because we know where He comes from and when Christ comes, no one will know where He comes from.’

₂₈Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and He said loudly: ‘You say that you know Me and you know where I come from, but it is not_true. I did not decide to come to the world. It was God who sent Me and what God does is always right. But you don't know Him. ₂₉I know God because I come from Him. He is the One who has sent Me.’

₃₀Some of the people wanted to arrest Jesus, but they could not do it because it was not the right time for that to happen. ₃₁A lot of people started to believe in Jesus. They said: ‘When Christ comes, He will not do more miracles than this Man.’

₃₂When the Pharisees heard what the people said about Jesus, they and the chief_priests sent guards to Jesus to arrest Him. ₃₃Jesus told them: ‘I will stay with you for a short while, then I will go back to God who has sent Me to the world. ₃₄Then you will look for Me but you will not find Me. You can not go to the place where I am going.’

₃₅Then the Jews said to each other: ‘Where will He go where we can not find Him? Is He going to the Greeks to teach them? ₃₆What does He mean when He says we will look for Him but we will not find Him? Why can't we go to the place where He is going?’

₃₇The last day of the feast was the most important day. On that day Jesus stood up and said loudly: ‘If anyone is thirsty and he wants to have life, he must come to Me and drink the water that gives eternal_life. ₃₈It will be like it is written in the Old_Testament:

₃₉When Jesus said this, He was talking about the Holy_Spirit. Everyone who believed in Jesus later received the Holy_Spirit. God first showed them that Jesus is also God, then they received the Spirit of God.

₄₀Some of the people heard the words that Jesus said and they said: ‘This man is really the Prophet that we are waiting for.’

₄₁Other people said: ‘He is the Christ.’

But some other people said: ‘No, the Christ will not come from the province of Galilee. ₄₂In the Old_Testament it is written that the Messiah will be from the family of King David. It is also written that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, the town where David lived.’

₄₃And the people argued about Jesus. ₄₄Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one tried to do it.

₄₅The guards went back to the chief_priests and Pharisees. The priest and the Pharisees asked the guards: ‘Why didn't you bring Jesus here?’ ₄₆The guards answered and said: ‘We have never heard any person speak like Jesus speaks.’

₄₇The Pharisees asked them: ‘Have you also started to believe the lies that Jesus tells? ₄₈Not one of the chief_priests or the Pharisees believes in Jesus. ₄₉But these people who believe in Jesus do not know the Old_Testament. God will punish them.’

₅₀Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees. It was he who came to talk to Jesus one night. He said to the Pharisees and the chief_priests: ₅₁‘Our laws say we must first listen to a person and find out everything that he did, then we can judge him.’

₅₂The Pharisees said to Nicodemus: ‘You speak like someone who comes from the province of Galilee. Go and read the Old_Testament and you will see that no prophet ever came out of Galilee.’

₅₃Then all the people went to their homes.