However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.
- KJV Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.
- NKJV Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
- NASB Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
- NLT But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) is near. This setting frames the events and teaching that follow in Jerusalem.
Overview
The Feast of Booths celebrated God's provision during Israel's wilderness wandering and looked forward to the harvest. Its themes of water and light will surface in Jesus's later teaching (7:37-38; 8:12). John notes the feast to set the stage for Jesus's revelation of Himself as the fulfillment of its symbols.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Zech 14:16–19Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
- Deut 16:13–16You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
- Lev 23:34–43“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.
- Num 29:12–38On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days.
- Exod 23:16–17You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.
- 2 Chr 7:9–10On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.
- Neh 8:14–18And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month.
- Ezra 3:4They also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in accordance with what is written, and they offered burnt offerings daily based on the number prescribed for each day.
- 1 Kgs 8:2And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
- 1 Kgs 8:65So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.
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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 7:2 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.
Original language
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