Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out [in a loud voice], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’ ” [Is 58:11; John 4:14] But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).
Listening to these words, some of the people said, “This is certainly the Prophet!” [Deut 18:15, 18; John 1:21; 6:14; Acts 3:22] Others said, “This is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)!” But others said, “Surely the Christ is not going to come out of Galilee, is He? Does the Scripture not say that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” [Ps 89:3, 4; Mic 5:2] So the crowd was divided because of Him. Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
Then the guards went [back] to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring Him [here with you]?” The guards replied, “Never [at any time] has a man talked the way this Man talks!” Then the Pharisees said to them, “Have you also been deluded and swept off your feet? Has any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? But this [ignorant, contemptible] crowd that does not know the Law is accursed and doomed!” Nicodemus (the one who came to Jesus before and was one of them) asked, “Does our Law convict someone without first giving him a hearing and finding out what he is [accused of] doing?” They responded, “Are you also from Galilee? Search [and read the Scriptures], and see [for yourself] that no prophet comes from Galilee!” [And everyone went to his own house.