What does He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me, but you will not find Me,’ and, ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Parallel translations
- WEB What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?”
- KJV What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
- NKJV What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”
- NASB What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”
- NLT What does he mean when he says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”
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
They repeat their bewilderment over Jesus' saying that they will seek Him and not find Him, and cannot come where He is. His words leave them confused and unsettled.
Overview
The repetition emphasizes how completely Jesus' meaning escapes them. Their confusion reflects the spiritual blindness that John highlights throughout the Gospel, where Jesus' words divide hearers into those who believe and those who cannot understand. The mystery of His departure points forward to His death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- John 3:9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
- John 7:34You will look for Me, but you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
- John 3:4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”
- John 12:34The crowd replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
- 1 Cor 2:14The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- John 6:60On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
- John 16:17–18Then some of His disciples asked one another, “Why is He telling us, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
- John 6:52At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
- John 6:41At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
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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 7:36 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.