28. Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple court, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him. 29. But I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

30. At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31. Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs 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, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

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 among the Greeks, 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’?”

37. On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

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

41. Others said, “He is the Christ.” Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42. Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”
43. Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Unbelief of the Jewish leaders

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

46. "No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

47. “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.48. “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49. No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.”

50. Nicodemus, 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 is 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. 53. Then they all left, each to his own home.

CHAPTER EIGHT


The woman caught in adultery

1. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2. At dawn he appeared again in the temple court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and 4. Said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6. They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8. Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11. “No one, sir,” she said. “Then, neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

 

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THE STARTING POINT STUDY BIBILE New International Version
The Luis Palau Evangelistic Association / www.luispalau.org