I copied the latest java 1.8 to a red hat Linux server. I ran the command java -version and it returned version 1.7.0_131. I updated .bashrc and the jre to the latest version 1.8. When I run the command version java -version it still says its version 1.7.0_31. What I need to know where is this being picked up from. I have checked .profile, .bashrc and JAVA_HOME they all are pointing to the location where I update to 1.8. Greatly appreciate all your help.
Type which java and you will probably see (at least after you have followed all the symlinks) that the Java executable is taken from somewhere else than your newly set JAVA_HOME. You need to create the appropriate symlinks to version 1.8, too, like this:
ln -s /your/path/to/v18/bin/java /usr/bin/java
Be aware that existing applications might use the 1.7 Java version and you might break them when you set /usr/bin/java (or whatever path the which command showed you) to the 1.8 version.
Fyi, JAVA_HOME is not meant to be used by your shell to locate the Java command. It is to be used by other software that require Java to know where to find it.