Knox Bible

1

After this, Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judaea, because the Jews had designs on his life.

2

And now one of the Jewish feasts, the feast of Tabernacles, was drawing near.✻

3

And his brethren said to him, This is no place for thee; go to Judaea, so that thy disciples also may see thy doings.✻

4

Nobody is content to act in secret, if he wishes to make himself known at large; if thou must needs act thus, shew thyself before the world.

5

For even his brethren were without faith in him.

6

Whereupon Jesus said to them, My opportunity has not come yet. Your opportunity is always ready to hand;

7

the world cannot be expected to hate you, but it does hate me, because I denounce it for its evil doings.

8

It is for you to go up for the feast; I am not going up for the feast, because for me the time is not ripe yet.✻

9

And, saying so much to them, he stayed behind in Galilee.

10

But afterwards, when his brethren had gone up for the feast, he too went up, not publicly, but as if he would keep himself hidden.

11

The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and asked, Where can he be?

12

Among the crowd, there was much whispering about him; some said, He is a good man; No, said others, he leads the multitude astray.

13

But, for fear of the Jews, nobody dared to speak of him openly.

14

And it was not till the feast was half over that Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach there.

15

The Jews were astonished; How does this man know how to read? they asked; he has never studied.

16

Jesus answered, The learning which I impart is not my own, it comes from him who sent me.

17

Anyone who is prepared to do his will, can tell for himself whether such learning comes from God, or whether I am delivering a message of my own.

18

The man who delivers a message of his own seeks to win credit for himself; when a man seeks to win credit for one who sent him, he tells the truth, there is no dishonesty in him.

19

Moses, for example; was it not Moses that gave you the law? And yet none of you keeps the law.

20

Why do you design to kill me? The multitude answered, Thou art possessed; who has a design to kill thee?

21

Jesus answered them, There is one action of mine which has astounded you all.

22

Listen to this; because Moses prescribed circumcision for you (not that it comes from Moses, it comes from the patriarchs), you are ready to circumcise a man on the sabbath day;✻

23

and if a man receives circumcision on the sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, have you any right to be indignant with me, for restoring a man’s whole strength to him on the sabbath?

24

Be honest in your judgements, instead of judging by appearances.

25

At this, some of those who belonged to Jerusalem began to ask, Is not this the man they design to put to death?

26

Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they have nothing to say to him. Can the rulers have made up their minds in earnest, that this is the Christ?

27

But then, we know this man’s origins; when Christ appears, no one is to know whence he comes.

28

Whereupon Jesus cried aloud as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know whence I come; but I have not come on my own errand, I was sent by one who has a right to send; and him you do not know.

29

I know him, because I come from him; it was he who sent me.

30

And now they were ready to seize him; but none of them laid hands on him; his time had not yet come.

31

And indeed, among the multitude there were many who learned to believe in him; they said, Can the Christ be expected to do more miracles at his coming than this man has done?

32

The Pharisees were told of these whispers about him among the multitude; and both chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

33

Then Jesus said, For a little while I am still with you, and then I am to go back to him who sent me.

34

You will look for me, but you will not be able to find me; you cannot reach the place where I am.

35

Whereupon the Jews said among themselves, Where can he mean to journey, that we should not be able to find him? Will he go to the Jews who are scattered about the Gentile world, and teach the Gentiles?

36

What can it mean, this saying of his, You will look for me, but you will not be able to find me; you cannot reach the place where I am?

37

On the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus stood there and cried aloud, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink;

38

yes, if a man believes in me, as the scripture says, Fountains of living water shall flow from his bosom.✻

39

He was speaking here of the Spirit, which was to be received by those who learned to believe in him; the Spirit which had not yet been given to men, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory.

40

Some of the multitude, on hearing these words, said, Beyond doubt, this is the prophet.✻

41

Others said, This is the Christ; and others again, Is the Christ, then, to come from Galilee?

42

Has not the scripture told us that Christ is to come from the family of David, and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?✻

43

Thus there was a division of opinion about him among the multitude;

44

some of them would have seized him by violence, but no one laid hands on him.

45

Meanwhile the officers had gone back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why have you not brought him here?

46

The officers answered, Nobody has ever spoken as this man speaks.

47

And the Pharisees answered, Have you, too, let yourselves be deceived?

48

Have any of the rulers come to believe in him yet, or of the Pharisees?

49

As for these common folk who have no knowledge of the law, a curse is on them.

50

Here Nicodemus, the same man who came to Jesus by night, who was one of their number, asked,

51

Is it the way of our law to judge a man without giving him a hearing first, and finding out what he is about?

52

They answered him, Art thou, too, from Galilee? Look in the scriptures; thou wilt find that Galilee does not breed prophets.

53

And they went back, each to his own home.