7:38a

Whoever believes in Me: This refers to anyone and everyone who believes on Jesus Christ. For example:

If anyone believes in me (New Century Version)

believes in Me: This phrase includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him. See how you translated similar phrases in 1:12b, 7:5, and 7:31a. Here are other ways to translate this idea:

Have faith in me (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
trusts in me

7:38b

as the Scripture has said: This clause probably refers to Isaiah 58:11, which says, “You will be like…a spring whose waters never fail” (New International Version). But it is not an exact quotation, and several OT passages talk about God giving water to his people. Those passages include Ezekiel 47:1–12 and Zechariah 14:8.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

As the scripture says (Good News Translation)
-or-
according to God’s written word

7:38c

Streams of living water will flow from within him: This is a further development of the metaphor in 7:37c. Refer to the story of the woman at the well, 4:10–15, to see how Christ used this metaphor earlier. Here, as there, it refers to the Holy Spirit as the one who brings true and plentiful life. It is good to keep the metaphor because Scripture uses it in other places.

Here are other ways to translate this sentence:

Rivers of living water will flow from his heart. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
You will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
in his heart will be ⌊that which gives life which will be like⌋ water that flows from a spring

Streams of living water will flow: This expression indicates that the living water will flow and be plentiful. In some languages it may be natural to leave the idea of Streams implicit. Instead, you can indicate that the water is plentiful in the verb flow or in an adjective. For example:

shall flow/rush plentiful life-giving water
-or-
water flowing (Contemporary English Version)

Streams of living water: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as living in this context means “life-giving,” something that gives life. See also 4:14c and the notes there, and the note on living water at 4:10d. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

streams of life-giving water (Good News Translation)

from within him: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as from within him is more literally “out of his stomach.” The pronoun “his” in the Greek probably refers to whoever believes in Jesus (7:38a). The New International Version uses a plural pronoun here because there are many who believe in Jesus. However, the Greek text has a singular pronoun to refer to “the one believing in me.” The Berean Standard Bible, like nearly all English translations, uses a singular pronoun.

The most probable Scripture that this refers to is Isaiah 58:11. There the pronoun is “you” (“You will be like…a spring”). See the previous note at 7:38b.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

From his heart (New Jerusalem Bible)

within him: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as within him is more literally “his stomach.” At that time, people saw the stomach as the center of one’s feelings and desires. Today, most English speakers see the heart that way, so some English translations translated the phrase as “his heart.” Other English translations just refer to inside a person without saying a specific body part. For example:

there will flow what gives true life, coming from inside him, like a spring of water
-or-
you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you (Contemporary English Version)

Translate this word in a way that is natural in your language. You may mention a specific body part that people see as the center or source of feelings and desires. Or you may just refer to the water coming from inside a person.

General Comment on 7:38a–c

This verse can be difficult to understand because the phrase “as the Scripture has said” interrupts the flow of the sentence. It separates the subject (“Whoever believes in me”) from what Jesus said about him. It may be clearer to change the order of the sentence. For example:

38b Scripture says this about 38c the one who believes in me. 38a ‘Rivers of water that give life will flow from his heart.’

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