Common English Bible

John 7:31-47 Common English Bible (CEB)

31. Many from that crowd believed in Jesus. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man does?"

32. The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Jesus, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.

33. Therefore, Jesus said, "I’m still with you for a little while before I go to the one who sent me.

34. You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come."

35. The Jewish opposition asked each other, "Where does he intend to go that we can’t find him? Surely he doesn’t intend to go where our people have been scattered and are living among the Greeks! He isn’t going to teach the Greeks, is he?

36. What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come’?"

37. On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, "All who are thirsty should come to me!

38. All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him."

39. Jesus said this concerning the Spirit. Those who believed in him would soon receive the Spirit, but they hadn’t experienced the Spirit yet since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified.

40. When some in the crowd heard these words, they said, "This man is truly the prophet."

41. Others said, "He’s the Christ." But others said, "The Christ can’t come from Galilee, can he?

42. Didn’t the scripture say that the Christ comes from David’s family and from Bethlehem, David’s village?"

43. So the crowd was divided over Jesus.

44. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one grabbed him.

45. The guards returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked, "Why didn’t you bring him?"

46. The guards answered, "No one has ever spoken the way he does."

47. The Pharisees replied, "Have you too been deceived?