7:7a

The world cannot hate you: The phrase The world refers in a general way to the people in the world. This is the first time in John that Jesus speaks of the world as his enemy. Before this he talked about loving and saving the world.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

the people of the world cannot hate you

cannot hate you: This verb clause indicates that people in general had no reason to hate Jesus’ brothers. They did not think that Jesus’ brothers were their enemies; so they did not hate and reject them. This was true because the brothers’ attitude agreed with their own, not because the people were good and loving.

7:7b

but: The conjunction but here indicates a contrast. Jesus contrasted the world’s attitude to his brothers and its attitude to him.

it hates Me: The pronoun it refers to the people of the world. If you used a plural noun like “people” in 7:7a, you will need to use a plural pronoun here. For example:

but they hate me

7:7c

because: This conjunction introduces the reason why the people of the world hated Jesus.

I testify that its works are evil: The clause I testify means “I tell publicly,” or “I tell what I witnessed.” See the notes on 1:7a and 1:15a, where the same verb is used.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

I give evidence that its ways are evil (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
I keep telling it that its ways are bad (Good News Translation)
-or-
I accuse it of doing evil (New Living Translation (2004))

its works are evil: Jesus declares that what people do is evil. The pronoun its refers to the people of the world that do not believe in Jesus. If you translated “The world” in 7:7a with a plural noun (such as “people”), you will need to use a plural pronoun here. For example:

they do evil things (Contemporary English Version)

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