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ParallelVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Yhn Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21
Yhn 7 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53
Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)
OET (OET-RV) However at the celebrations, the Jewish religious leaders were searching for him, and were asking around where he was.![]()
OET-LV Therefore the Youdaiōns were_seeking him at the feast, and they_were_saying:
Where is that one?
![]()
SR-GNT Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, καὶ ἔλεγον, “Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος;” ‡
(Hoi oun Youdaioi ezaʸtoun auton en taʸ heortaʸ, kai elegon, “Pou estin ekeinos;”)
Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
ULT Therefore, the Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is that one?”
UST Because the Jewish leaders expected Jesus to be at the celebration, they tried to find him. They asked people, “Where is that man?”
BSB So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and asking, “Where is He?”
MSB (Same as BSB above)
BLB Therefore the Jews were seeking Him at the feast, and were saying, "Where is He?"
AICNT So the Jews sought him at the feast and said, “Where is that man?”
OEB The authorities were looking for him at the Festival and asking “Where is he?”;
LSB So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and saying, “Where is He?”
WEBBE The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?”
WMBB The Judeans therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?”
NET So the Jewish leaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?”
LSV the Jews, therefore, were seeking Him in the celebration, and said, “Where is that One?”
FBV Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were searching for him and kept on asking, “Where is he?”
TCNT Now the Jews were looking for him at the feast, saying, “Where is that man?”
T4T At the celebration, the Jewish leaders were looking for him. They were asking people, “Has Jesus come?”
LEB So the Jews were looking for him at the feast, and were saying, “Where is he?”
BBE At the feast the Jews were looking for him and saying, Where is he?
Moff At the festival the Jews were in quest of him, saying, "Where is he?"
Wymth Meanwhile the Jews at the Festival were looking for Him and were inquiring, "Where is he?"
ASV The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
DRA The Jews therefore sought him on the festival day, and said: Where is he?
YLT the Jews, therefore, were seeking him, in the feast, and said, 'Where is that one?'
Drby The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
RV The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
SLT Then the Jews sought him in the festival, and said, Where is he.
Wbstr Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
KJB-1769 Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
KJB-1611 Then the Iewes sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)
Bshps Then sought hym the Iewes at the feaste, and sayde, where is he?
(Then sought him the Yews at the feaste, and said, where is he?)
Gnva Then the Iewes sought him at the feast, and saide, Where is hee?
(Then the Yews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? )
Cvdl Then sought him ye Iewes at ye feast, and sayde: Where is he?
(Then sought him ye/you_all Yews at ye/you_all feast, and said: Where is he?)
TNT Then sought him the Iewes at the feast and sayde: Where is he?
(Then sought him the Yews at the feast and said: Where is he? )
Wycl Therfor the Jewis souyten hym in the feeste dai, and seiden, Where is he?
(Therefore the Yews sought him in the feast day, and said, Where is he?)
Luth Da suchten ihn die Juden am Fest und sprachen: Wo ist der?
(So were_looking_for him/it the Yews in/at/on_the Fest and said: Where is he?)
ClVg Judæi ergo quærebant eum in die festo, et dicebant: Ubi est ille?
(Jews therefore they_were_looking_for him in/into/on day festo, and they_said: Where it_is he/that_one? )
UGNT οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, καὶ ἔλεγον, ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος?
(hoi oun Youdaioi ezaʸtoun auton en taʸ heortaʸ, kai elegon, pou estin ekeinos?)
SBL-GNT οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ καὶ ἔλεγον· Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος;
(hoi oun Youdaioi ezaʸtoun auton en taʸ heortaʸ kai elegon; Pou estin ekeinos;)
RP-GNT Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, καὶ ἔλεγον, Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος;
(Hoi oun Youdaioi ezaʸtoun auton en taʸ heortaʸ, kai elegon, Pou estin ekeinos;)
TC-GNT Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, καὶ ἔλεγον, Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος;
(Hoi oun Youdaioi ezaʸtoun auton en taʸ heortaʸ, kai elegon, Pou estin ekeinos; )
Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).
7:1-52 This chapter is another account of Jesus during a Jewish festival, the Festival of Shelters. Jesus used elements of the festival to reveal his true identity to his Jewish compatriots and to show that he had fulfilled the festival’s essential meaning (see 7:37-39; 8:12).
After Jesus stayed in Galilee a while, he went up quietly by himself. The crowds there disagreed about whether Jesus was a good man. He began to teach the people gathered at the temple and the Jewish leaders were amazed at his teaching. Jesus explained that his teaching came from God. Then he made them angry by saying that none of them kept the law.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Jesus began to teach at the festival of Booths
Jesus’ teaching came from God
Jesus went secretly to the festival. The Jewish leaders were watching for him so that they could accuse him and arrest him. Some of the people there thought that Jesus was good and others opposed him.
So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast
During the festival the Jewish leaders looked for him
The Jewish leaders were trying to find him there,
So: In the Greek text this clause connects to the previous sentence with a conjunction that the BSB translates as So. It introduces a result of Jesus’ coming secretly: the Jewish leaders were forced to ask where he was. Some translations does not explicitly translate this conjunction, but you should do so if it is natural in your language.
the Jews were looking for Him at the feast: The Jewish leaders expected that Jesus would be at the festival and they wanted to know where he was. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
at the Feast the Jews were watching for him (NIV)
The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival (NLT)
During the festival the leaders looked for Jesus (CEV)
the Jews: This is a term often used in John to refer to the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus. In 7:12a John used the phrase “the crowds” to refer to all the Jews. That means that the Jews here probably refers to just a group of Jews, the leaders. See how you translated this term in 7:1c. In some languages it is more natural to be more explicit. For example:
the Jewish leaders (NET)
for Him: The pronoun Him refers to Jesus.
and asking, “Where is He?”
and asked people, “Where is that man/Jesus?”
and they asked people to tell them where he was.
and asking, “Where is He?”: In some languages it is more natural to use an indirect quote here. For example:
asking where he was (REB)
kept asking if anyone had seen him (NLT)
and asking: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as and asking is more literally “and they were saying.” This phrase here introduces a question, so it may be more natural to use a word like asking, as the BSB does. In some languages you may also need to explicitly say who they were talking to. For example:
and asking people
Where is He?: The Greek question that the BSB translates as Where is He? is more literally “Where is that one?” Some commentaries say that this is a slightly insulting way to refer to Jesus. It implies that the leaders did not think that he was good. Consider how it is natural to imply this in your language. For example:
Where is that man? (NIV)
Where is that person?
In other languages it may be necessary to name Jesus. For example:
Where is that Jesus?
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
οἱ & Ἰουδαῖοι
the & Jews
Here, the Jews refers to the Jewish leaders. See how you translated this term in [1:19](../01/19.md).
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτόν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ καί ἔλεγον Ποῦ ἐστίν ἐκεῖνος)
John records the Jewish leaders saying that one as a disrespectful way to refer to Jesus without saying his name. If your language has a similar way to refer to someone in an indirect but derogatory manner, you may use it here. Alternate translation: [Where is that so-and-so]

Much like the difficulties of discerning the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land (see here), the task of reconciling the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem into one coherent itinerary has proven very challenging for Bible scholars. As with many other events during Jesus’ ministry, the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels) present a noticeably similar account of Jesus’ final travels, while John’s Gospel presents an itinerary that is markedly different from the others. In general, the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus as making a single journey to Jerusalem, beginning in Capernaum (Luke 9:51), passing through Perea (Matthew 19:1-2; Mark 10:1) and Jericho (Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-19:10), and ending at Bethany and Bethphage, where he enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44). John, on the other hand, mentions several trips to Jerusalem by Jesus (John 2:13-17; 5:1-15; 7:1-13; 10:22-23), followed by a trip to Perea across the Jordan River (John 10:40-42), a return to Bethany where he raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11), a withdrawal to the village of Ephraim for a few months (John 11:54), and a return trip to Bethany, where he then enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (John 12:1-19). The differences between the Synoptics’ and John’s accounts are noteworthy, but they are not irreconcilable. The Synoptics, after noting that Jesus began his trip at Capernaum, likely condensed their accounts (as occurs elsewhere in the Gospels) to omit Jesus’ initial arrival in Jerusalem and appearance at the Festival of Dedication, thus picking up with Jesus in Perea (stage 2 of John’s itinerary). Then all the Gospels recount Jesus’ trip (back) to Bethany and Jerusalem, passing through Jericho along the way. Likewise, the Synoptics must have simply omitted the few months Jesus spent in Ephraim to escape the Jewish leaders (stage 4 of John’s itinerary) and rejoined John’s account where Jesus is preparing to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.