John 7

Part of Light of the World and the Good Shepherd📖 John introduction

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¹After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. ✦ ²Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. ✦ ³His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. ✦ ⁴For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” ✦ ⁵For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. ✦ ⁶Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. ✦ ⁷The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. ✦ ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” ✦ ⁹Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. ✦ ¹¹The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?” ✦ ¹²There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “Not so, but he leads the multitude astray.” ✦ ¹³Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. ✦ ¹⁴But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. ✦ ¹⁵The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?” ✦ ¹⁶Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. ✦ ¹⁷If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. ✦ ¹⁸He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. ✦ ¹⁹Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?” ✦ ²⁰The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?” ✦ ²¹Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. ✦ ²²Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. ✦ ²³If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? ✦ ²⁴Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” ✦ ²⁵Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? ✦ ²⁶Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? ✦ ²⁷However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” ✦ ²⁸Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. ✦ ²⁹I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” ✦ ³⁰They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ✦ ³¹But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?” ✦ ³²The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ✦ ³³Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. ✦ ³⁴You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come.” ✦ ³⁵The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? ✦ ³⁶What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?” ✦ ³⁷Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ✦ ³⁸He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” ✦ ³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified. ✦ ⁴⁰Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” ✦ ⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? ✦ ⁴²Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ✦ ⁴³So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. ✦ ⁴⁴Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. ✦ ⁴⁵The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” ✦ ⁴⁶The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” ✦ ⁴⁷The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? ✦ ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? ✦ ⁴⁹But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed.” ✦ ⁵⁰Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, ✦ ⁵¹“Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?” ✦ ⁵²They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” ✦ ⁵³Everyone went to his own house, ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

John 7 ·49 John 8 ·29 John 1 ·16 John 6 ·16 John 12 ·14 John 5 ·14 John 9 ·13 John 17 ·13

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 7YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 7David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 7Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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