The Jewish Annotated New Testament (55 page)

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But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were
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in secret.
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The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?”
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And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”
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Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴
About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.
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The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning,
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when he has never been taught?”
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Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.
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Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.
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Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

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“Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”
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The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”
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Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished.
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Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.
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If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?
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Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

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Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill?
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And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?
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Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah
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comes, no one will know where he is from.”
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Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.
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I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
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Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.
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Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah
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comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
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The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.
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Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.
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You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
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The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
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What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

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On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,
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and let the one who believes in me drink. As
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the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart
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shall flow rivers of living water.’”
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Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,
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because Jesus was not yet glorified.

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When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.”
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Others said, “This is the Messiah.”
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But some asked, “Surely the Messiah
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does not come from Galilee, does he?
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Has not the scripture said that the Messiah
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is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
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So there was a division in the crowd because of him.
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Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

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Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”
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The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”
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Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?
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Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?
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But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.”
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Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus
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before, and who was one of them, asked,
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“Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”
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They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

8
[
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Then each of them went home,
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while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
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Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
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The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them,
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they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
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Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
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They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
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When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
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And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
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When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
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Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
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She said, “No one, sir.”
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And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]
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Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
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Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.”
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Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
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You judge by human standards;
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I judge no one.
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Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father
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who sent me.
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In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid.
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I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.”
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Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
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He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

²¹
Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
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Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
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He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
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I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”
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They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all?
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I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
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They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.
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So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he,
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and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.
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And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.”
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As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

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Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;
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and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
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They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”