John 7:36-51

³⁶When he said ‘You will search for me, but you will not be able to find me,’ and when he said ‘You will not be able to come to the place where I am,’ what did he mean?”

³⁷On each of the seven days of the celebration, the high priest poured out some water on the altar in the Temple to remember how God provided water for the people in the desolate area long ago. But the water he poured did not help anyone who was thirsty. So on the last day of the festival, which was the most important day, Jesus stood up in the Temple courtyard and said with a loud voice, “Those who are thirsty should come to me to drink what I will give them.

³⁸Just like the Scriptures teach, streams of water shall flow out from within those who believe in me, and that water will cause them to live eternally.”

³⁹When Jesus said that, he was referring to God's Spirit, whom those who believed in Jesus would receive later. Up to that time God had not sent the Spirit to live within believers, because Jesus had not yet died and returned to his glorious home in heaven, from where he would send the Spirit.

⁴⁰When some of the crowd heard those words, they said, “Surely this man is the prophet whom God promised to send who would be like Moses!”

⁴¹Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others, thinking Jesus was born in Galilee, said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee province, will he?

⁴²◄Did a prophet not write in the Scriptures that the Messiah will come from King David's family, and be born in Bethlehem, where King David lived?/ It is written in the Scriptures that the Messiah will come from King David's family, and be born in Bethlehem, where King David lived!► RHQ”

⁴³So the people were divided because of what they thought about Jesus.

⁴⁴Some people wanted to seize him, but no one tried to do that.

⁴⁵So the Temple guards returned to the chief priests and the Pharisees, the ones who had sent them to arrest Jesus. They said to the guards, “Why did you not seize him and bring him here?”

⁴⁶They replied, “No one ever spoke such amazing things as this man does!”

⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, “Have you been deceived {Has he deceived you}, too?

⁴⁸◄None of our rulers nor any of us Pharisees have believed that ‘he is the Messiah!/he came from God!’/Have any of our Jewish rulers or any of us Pharisees believed that ‘he is the Messiah?/he came from God?’► RHQ

⁴⁹Not one! But, on the contrary, some of this crowd have believed in him. They do not know the true teachings of our laws! They will go to hell for listening to him!”

⁵⁰Then Nicodemus spoke. He was the one who earlier went to Jesus at night. He was also a member of the Jewish council. He said to the rest of the Council members,

⁵¹“ We have not listened to what he says to find out what he is doing. ◄It is not permitted in our Jewish law PRS for us to say, before questioning someone, that we must punish him!/Is it permitted in our Jewish law PRS for us to say, before questioning someone, that we must punish him?► RHQ”