"if Anyone Thirsts, Let That One Come to Me and Drink": The Literary Texture of John 7:37B-38A‪.‬

I. The Debate over John 7:38b John 7:37-38 is a well-known interpretive crux. In it Jesus, on the last day of Sukkot, bids anyone who is thirsty "come to him and drink," assuring the one who believes that, as the Scripture said, "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Three questions arise from several ambiguities in the text's grammar and language: (1) Where does Jesus' initial invitation end? (2) To whom does the phrase "out of his belly" refer? (3) From what passage(s) has the clause "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" been drawn? (1) The amalgam of options has evoked persistent debate, with no single proposal yet winning consensus. Indeed, the status quaestionis vividly described by Joseph Blenkinsopp some decades ago can still be said to hold true today: