John 7 · a question people ask

Jesus told his brothers, "I am not yet going up to this feast" (7:8), and then he went up (7:10). How do the two fit?

In the text

Here is what John's Gospel tells, in order. Jesus said, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready" (7:6), and "You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled" (7:8). "Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee" (7:9). "But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret" (7:10). In the WEB he says not yet, and gives a reason with it: "because my time is not yet fulfilled" (7:8). John's Gospel doesn't say more about why he went up when he did, or why in secret, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret.”
John 7:6-10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 7

John 7: If anyone is thirsty

Every seek, seeks and sought in John 7 is one Greek verb: "the Jews sought to kill him" (7:1), and Jesus says, "You will seek me and won’t find me" (7:34). And John's Gospel itself says what the "rivers of living water" (7:38) are about: "he said this about the Spirit" (7:39).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions