John 7:34-36

7:34 You will look for me ¹  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”

7:35 Then the Jewish leaders ²  said to one another, “Where is he ³  going to go that we cannot find him? ⁴  He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed ⁵  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? ⁶  7:36 What did he mean by saying, ⁷  ‘You will look for me ⁸  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

John 7:39-44

7:39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, ⁹  because Jesus was not yet glorified.) ¹⁰ 

Differing Opinions About Jesus

7:40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd ¹¹  began to say, “This really ¹²  is the Prophet!” ¹³  7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” ¹⁴  But still others said, “No, ¹⁵  for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ¹⁶  7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ¹⁷  of David ¹⁸  and comes from Bethlehem, ¹⁹  the village where David lived?” ²⁰  7:43 So there was a division in the crowd ²¹  because of Jesus. ²²  7:44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. ²³ 

[7:34]  ¹ tn Grk “seek me.”

[7:35]  ² tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase is understood to refer to the Jewish authorities or leaders, since the Jewish leaders are mentioned in this context both before and after the present verse (7:32, 45).

[7:35]  ³ tn Grk “this one.”

[7:35]  ⁴ tn Grk “will not find him.”

[7:35]  ⁵ sn The Jewish people dispersed (Grk “He is not going to the Diaspora”). The Greek term diaspora (“dispersion”) originally meant those Jews not living in Palestine, but dispersed or scattered among the Gentiles.

[7:35]  ⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “is he?”).

[7:36]  ³ tn Grk “What is this word that he said.”

[7:36]  ⁴ tn Grk “seek me.”

[7:39]  ⁴ tn Grk “for the Spirit was not yet.” Although only B and a handful of other NT mss supply the participle δεδομένον (dedomenon), this is followed in the translation to avoid misunderstanding by the modern English reader that prior to this time the Spirit did not exist. John’s phrase is expressed from a human standpoint and has nothing to do with the preexistence of the third Person of the Godhead. The meaning is that the era of the Holy Spirit had not yet arrived; the Spirit was not as yet at work in a way he later would be because Jesus had not yet returned to his Father. Cf. also Acts 19:2.

[7:39]  ⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[7:40]  ⁵ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:40]  ⁶ tn Or “truly.”

[7:40]  ⁷ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[7:41]  ⁶ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:41]  ⁷ tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.

[7:41]  ⁸ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does he?”).

[7:42]  ⁷ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42]  ⁸ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42]  ⁹ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[7:43]  ⁸ tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:43]  ⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44]  ⁹ sn Compare John 7:30 regarding the attempt to seize Jesus.