John 7:37-38 And in the great and final day of the festival, there stood Jesus. And he cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to me; and drink, he who believes on me. As the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from His belly.”
Now go to John 8:6, where Jesus writes in the dirt on the ground. Jesus has just the day before, declared himself to be the fountain of living waters, during the last and great day of the Feast of Sukkot, of Tabernacles. But the Pharisees and Sanhedrin and religious leaders did not receive him as such. The next thing they did was bring the woman caught in adultery, to test him. What did Jesus do? Jesus wrote in the earth, John 8:6, he was writing in the dirt, κατέγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν. Messianic Rabbi Zev Porat points out that this writing in the earth by Jesus was a fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13-
“O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be put to shame. They that turn away from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS.”
Jesus writing in the dirt in John 8:6 was a fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13 in two ways: They were put to shame, and their names were written in the earth, because they had turned away from the fountain of living waters.
But, you may miss this jewel if you are reading some of the modern “gender inclusive” Bible translations in John 7:38:
NIV Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
NRSV and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
You see, these obscure the fact that Jesus was declaring Himself to be the fountain of living waters!
Here is my tranlsation of John 7:38:
ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ. καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος
DRP he who believes on me. As the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from His belly.”
And the KJV: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38 says, “As the scripture has said.” Therefore, you have to ask, what scripture is there that says what the NRSV says, “out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water”? None exists, but there are scriptures that indicate that Christ is the source of living water. Moses struck the rock in the desert, and streams of water came out of that. The apostle Paul said that rock is Christ. Once again I am giving you another good reason to set aside the translations that use plurals for gender inclusiveness. It makes the scriptures inaccurate and muddied up.
The Greek says “out of his belly.” Does not say “the believer,” and it is not plural.
καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος
The Hebrew of Jeremiah 17:13:
מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה, כָּל-עֹזְבֶיךָ יֵבֹשׁוּ; יסורי (וְסוּרַי) בָּאָרֶץ יִכָּתֵבוּ, כִּי עָזְבוּ מְקוֹר מַיִם-חַיִּים אֶת-יְהוָה.
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1117.htm
This is another indication that the passage about the woman caught in adultery does belong in the Bible, and was indeed inspired by God and written by the apostle John.
I have updated my translation of the gospel of John to incorporate this information.
Download here.