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Saturday, November 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

John 7:15

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Jesus, the Christ;   Jesus Continued;   Temple;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Letters;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - John, gospel of;   Teacher;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Candlestick;   Feasts;   Scribes;   Tabernacles, Feast of;   Unlearned;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Scribes;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Amazement;   Ascension (2);   Attributes of Christ;   Boyhood ;   Childhood;   Dispersion ;   Doctrines;   Education (2);   Error;   Influence;   Learning;   Letters;   Pharisees (2);   Questions and Answers;   Scripture;   Scripture (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - 2 Unlearned Ignorant;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Tabernacles feast of;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Jesus of Nazareth;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ignorance;   Jesus Christ (Part 2 of 2);   Unlearned;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How is this man so learned, since he hasn’t been trained?”
King James Version (1611)
And the Iewes marueiled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, hauing neuer learned?
King James Version
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
English Standard Version
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?"
New American Standard Bible
The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this Man become learned, not having been educated?"
New Century Version
The people were amazed and said, "This man has never studied in school. How did he learn so much?"
Amplified Bible
Then the Jews were perplexed. They said, "How did this man become learned [so versed in the Scriptures and theology] without formal training?"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"
Legacy Standard Bible
The Jews then were marveling, saying, "How has this man become learned, not having been educated?"
Berean Standard Bible
The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man attain such learning without having studied?"
Contemporary English Version
The leaders were surprised and said, "How does this man know so much? He has never been taught!"
Complete Jewish Bible
The Judeans were surprised: "How does this man know so much without having studied?" they asked.
Darby Translation
The Jews therefore wondered, saying, How knows this [man] letters, having never learned?
Easy-to-Read Version
The Jewish leaders were amazed and said, "How did this man learn so much? He never had the kind of teaching we had!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Iewes marueiled, saving, Howe knoweth this man the Scriptures, seeing that hee neuer learned!
George Lamsa Translation
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How does this man know reading, when he has not been instructed?
Good News Translation
The Jewish authorities were greatly surprised and said, "How does this man know so much when he has never been to school?"
Lexham English Bible
Then the Jews were astonished, saying, "How does this man possess knowledge, because he has not been taught?"
Literal Translation
And the Jews marveled, saying, How does this One know letters, not being taught?
American Standard Version
The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
Bible in Basic English
Then the Jews were surprised and said, How has this man got knowledge of books? He has never been to school.
Hebrew Names Version
The Yehudim therefore marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?"
International Standard Version
The Jews[fn] were astonished and remarked, "How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?"Matthew 13:54; Mark 6:2; Luke 4:22; Acts 2:7;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And the Jihudoyee wondered and said, How knoweth this man the scripture, when he hath not learned ?
Murdock Translation
And the Jews wondered, and said: How knoweth this man literature, having not been educated?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Iewes marueyled, saying: howe knoweth he the scriptures, seyng that he neuer learned?
English Revised Version
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
World English Bible
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?"
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How doth this man know letters, having never learned?
Weymouth's New Testament
The Jews were astonished. "How does this man know anything of books," they said, "although he has never been at any of the schools?"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Jewis wondriden, and seiden, Hou can this man lettris, sithen he hath not lerned?
Update Bible Version
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never learned?
Webster's Bible Translation
And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
New English Translation
Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, "How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?"
New King James Version
And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"
New Living Translation
The people were surprised when they heard him. "How does he know so much when he hasn't been trained?" they asked.
New Life Bible
The Jews were surprised and wondered, saying, "How can this Man know so much when He has never been to school?"
New Revised Standard
The Jews were astonished at it, saying, "How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The Jews, therefore, began to marvel, saying - How, doth this one know, letters, not having learned?
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Jews wondered, saying: How doth this man know letters, having never learned?
Revised Standard Version
The Jews marveled at it, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?"
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And the Iewes marveylled sayinge: How knoweth he ye scriptures seynge yt he never learned?
Young's Literal Translation
and the Jews were wondering, saying, `How hath this one known letters -- not having learned?'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the Iewes marueyled and sayde: How can he ye scrypture, seynge he hath not lerned it?
Mace New Testament (1729)
at which the Jews were surprized, saying, how came be acquainted with the scriptures, a man of no education?
Simplified Cowboy Version
The people listening marveled at his knowledge and wondered where he came by such wisdom without having attended seminary.

Contextual Overview

14With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: "How does he know so much without being schooled?" 16Jesus said, "I didn't make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it's from God or whether I'm making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn't tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn't it, who gave you God's Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?" 20 The crowd said, "You're crazy! Who's trying to kill you? You're demon-possessed." 21Jesus said, "I did one miraculous thing a few months ago, and you're still standing around getting all upset, wondering what I'm up to. Moses prescribed circumcision—originally it came not from Moses but from his ancestors—and so you circumcise a man, dealing with one part of his body, even if it's the Sabbath. You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with me because I made a man's whole body well on the Sabbath? Don't be nitpickers; use your head—and heart!—to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right." 25That's when some of the people of Jerusalem said, "Isn't this the one they were out to kill? And here he is out in the open, saying whatever he pleases, and no one is stopping him. Could it be that the rulers know that he is, in fact, the Messiah? And yet we know where this man came from. The Messiah is going to come out of nowhere. Nobody is going to know where he comes from." 28That provoked Jesus, who was teaching in the Temple, to cry out, "Yes, you think you know me and where I'm from, but that's not where I'm from. I didn't set myself up in business. My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don't know him at all. I come from him—that's how I know him. He sent me here." 30They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time. Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, "Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?" 32The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him. Jesus rebuffed them: "I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you won't find me. Where I am, you can't come." 35The Jews put their heads together. "Where do you think he is going that we won't be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews? What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won't find me,' and ‘Where I am, you can't come'?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

marvelled: John 7:46, Matthew 7:28, Matthew 7:29, Matthew 22:22, Matthew 22:33, Luke 2:47

How: Matthew 13:54, Mark 6:2, Mark 6:3, Luke 4:22, Acts 2:7-13, Acts 4:11, Acts 4:12

letters: or, learning, Amos 7:14, Amos 7:15

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 10:11 - Is Saul Psalms 22:6 - a reproach Isaiah 29:12 - I am not Isaiah 50:4 - as the John 7:27 - we know Acts 4:13 - were 1 Corinthians 14:16 - unlearned

Cross-References

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them. Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs grow up together, and the lion eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens, the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent. Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain. The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Jews marvelled,.... Both at the matter, and manner of his doctrine; it was such, as never man spake; his words were so gracious, and there were such truth and evidence in them, and they were delivered with such power and authority, that they were astonished at them:

saying, how knoweth this man letters? or "the Scriptures", as the Arabic and Persic versions render it; which are called "holy letters", 2 Timothy 3:15; according to which, the sense is, that they were surprised at his knowledge of the Scriptures, that he should be conversant with them, and be able to interpret them, and give the sense and meaning of them, in so full and clear a manner, as he did: or else the sense is, how came this man to be such a learned man? whence has he this wisdom, and all this learning which he shows? as in Matthew 13:54. So a learned man is in Isaiah 29:11, said to be one that יודע הספר, επισταμενος γραμματα, "knows letters", as the Septuagint there translate the Hebrew text; but how Christ should know them, or be a learned man,

having never learned, was surprising to them: that is, he had not had a liberal education, but was brought up to a trade; he was not trained up at the feet of any of their Rabbins, in any of their universities, or schools of learning; and in which they were certainly right. Modern Jews pretend to say he had a master, whom they sometimes call Elchanan o, but most commonly they make him to be R. Joshua ben Perachiah p: with whom they say, he fled into Alexandria in Egypt, for fear of Jannai the king: and one of their writers q, on this account, charges the evangelist with a falsehood: but who are we to believe, the Jews who lived at the same time with Jesus, and knew his education and manner of life, or those that have lived ages since?

o Toldos Jesu, p. 5. p Juchasin, fol. 159. 1. Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1, fol. 21. 1. & 24. q R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 46. p. 435.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Knoweth this man letters - The Jewish letters or science consisted in the knowledge of their Scriptures and traditions. Jesus exhibited in his discourses such a profound acquaintance with the Old Testament as to excite their amazement and admiration.

Having never learned - The Jews taught their law and tradition in celebrated schools. As Jesus had not been instructed in those schools, they were amazed at his learning. What early human teaching the Saviour had we have no means of ascertaining, further than that it was customary for the Jews to teach their children to read the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:15; “from a child thou (Timothy) hast known the holy scriptures.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 7:15. How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? — The Jewish learning consisted in the knowledge of their own scriptures, and the traditions of their elders. In this learning our blessed Lord excelled. No person ever spoke with more grace and dignity, or knew better how to make a more proper use, or a happier application, of Jewish allegories and parables; because none ever penetrated the sense of the Scriptures as he did; none ever cited them more successfully, or ever showed their accomplishment in so complete and satisfactory a manner. As these branches of learning were taught at the Jewish schools, and our Lord had never attended there, they were astonished to find him excelling in that sort of learning, of which they themselves professed to be the sole teachers.


 
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