Limitless Word
Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
John 7:6 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
  • BSB Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come.
  • NKJV Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
  • NASB So Jesus *said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always ready.
  • NLT Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime.

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

Jesus replies that His time has not yet come, but their time is always ready. He acts according to the Father's appointed timing, not human pressure.

Overview

Jesus distinguishes His divinely set 'time' from the brothers' freedom to come and go as they please. His path to public revelation and ultimately the cross follows the Father's schedule alone. The verse displays Jesus's perfect submission to the Father's plan, refusing to be moved by worldly counsel.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • John 7:8You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.”
  • John 2:4Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
  • John 7:30They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
  • John 17:1Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
  • John 13:1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
  • John 8:20Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
  • Matt 26:18He said, “Go into the city to a certain person, and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’”
  • Acts 1:7He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
  • Ps 102:13You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
  • Eccl 3:1–15For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 7:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 7:6 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.