CHAPTER 133.
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Levi
Jesus teaches in the temple. His words enrage the rulers. Nicodemus defends him. He spends the night in prayer on Mount Olives. Next day he again teaches in the temple. An adultress is brought before him for judgment.
Now, on the last day of the feast when multitudes were in the courtways, Jesus said,
2 Whoever is athirst may come to me and drink.
3 He who believes in me and in the Christ whom God has sent, may drink the cup of life, and from his inner parts shall streams of living waters flow.
4 The Holy Breath will overshadow him, and he will breathe the Breath, and speak the words, and live the life.
5 The people were divided in their views concerning him. Some said, This man is prophet of the living God.
6 And others said, He is Messiah whom our prophets said would come.
7 And others said, He cannot be the Christ, for he came down from Galilee; the Christ must come from Bethlehem where David lived.
8 Again the priests and Pharisees sent officers to bring him into court to answer for his life; but when the officers returned and brought him not,
9 The rulers were enraged and said, Why did you not arrest this man and hale him into court?
10 The officers replied, We never heard a man speak like this man speaks.
11 In rage the Pharisees stood forth and said, Have you gone mad? Have you been led astray? Are you disciples of this man?
12 Have any of the rulers, or the Pharisees believed on him? The common people! yes, they may believe; they are accursed; they know not anything.
13 But Nicodemus came before the rulers and he said, Can Jewish judges judge a man and sentence him until they hear his plea? Let Jesus stand before this bar and testify himself.
14 The rulers said, This Jesus is a wily man, and if we suffer him to speak, he will rebuke us face to face, and then the multitudes will laugh and stand in his defense.
15 And then you know, as well as we, that prophets do not come from Galilee.
16 The rulers felt the force of what the officers and Nicodemus said, and they said nothing more.
17 And then the people went their way, each to his home; but Jesus went unto Mount Olives where he spent the night in prayer.
18 But in the morning when the sun had scarcely risen, Jesus came again, and many people came to see him in the temple courts, and he sat down and taught the multitudes.
19 The Pharisees and scribes were still alert to find a cause whereby they might condemn him by the words he spoke.
20 The officers had taken in the very act of crime, a courtesan. As Jesus taught, they brought this woman in and set her in the midst and said,
21 Rabboni, this vile woman has been taken in adultery. The law of Moses says that such as she shall die, be stoned to death; what do you say should be her punishment?
22 And Jesus stooped and made a figure on the ground and in it placed the number of a soul, and then he sat in silent thought.
23 And when the priests demanded that he speak, he said, Let him who has no sin stand forth and be the first to cast a stone at her.
24 And then he closed his eyes, and not a word was said. When he arose and saw the woman all alone he said,
25 Where are the men who brought you here? they who accused?
26 The woman said, They all are gone; no one was here who could condemn.
27 And Jesus said, And I condemn you not; go on your way in peace, and sin no more.