John 8
The Woman Caught in Adultery
1 But Jesus proceeded to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now at dawn he came again to the temple, and all the people were coming to him, and having sat he was teaching them. 3 Now the scribes and the Pharisees bring [a] woman caught in adultery, and having stood her in the midst 4 they say to him: Teacher, this woman was caught in the act being adulterous. 5 Now Moses commanded in the law of Moses to be stoning such [ones]. So, what do you say? 6 But they were saying this testing him, that they have [something] to accuse of him. But Jesus having bent down was writing in the dirt1 . 7 So as they persisted asking2 [him], he stood erect and said: Let3 the unsinful [one] among you cast upon her [the] first stone. 8 And again having bent he was writing in the dirt1.9 Now those having heard were going out one by one beginning from the eldest, and he was left alone and the woman being in the midst. 10 So Jesus having stood erect said to her: Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you? 11 The woman said: No one, Lord. So Jesus said to her: Neither do I condemn you. Be going, from now [on] be sinning no more4.
Jesus as the Light of the World
12 So, again Jesus spoke to them saying: I am the light of the world. The [one] following me shall not walk in darkness, but will have the light of zoe-life5 . 13 So the Pharisees said to him: You witness concerning yourself, your witness is not true. 14 Jesus answered and said to them: And if I witness concerning myself, my witness is true, because I know from where I came and [to] where I depart. But you do not know from where I come or [to] where I depart. 15 You judge according to the flesh, but I judge no one. 16 But if I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but [it is] I and the father having sent me. 17 And in your law it is written that the witness of two men is true. 18 I am the [one] witnessing concerning myself, and the father having sent me witnesses concerning me. 19 So they were saying to him, Where is your father? Jesus answered: You know neither me nor my father. If you had known me, you would have also known my father. 20 These words he spoke in the treasury teaching in the temple. And no one arrested him, because his hour was not yet come.Where Jesus Came From and Where He is Going
21 So he said to them again: I depart and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins; where I depart you are not able to come. 22 So the Jews were saying: Will he not kill himself6 , because he says: Where I depart you also are not able to come? 23 And he was saying to them: You are of the below, I am of the above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 So I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am [he], you will die in your sins.25 So they were saying to him, Who are you? Jesus said to them: What I told you from the beginning. 26 I have many [things] concerning you to be saying and to be judging. But the [one] having sent me is true, and I, what I heard from him, these [things] I speak to the world. 27 They did not know that he was speaking [about] the father.
28 So Jesus said: When you have lifted up7 the son of man, then you will know that I am [he], and [that] from myself I do nothing, but just as the father taught me, these [things] I speak. 29 And the [one] having sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do the [things] pleasing to him. 30 Speaking these [things], many believed in him.
Abraham's Children and the Devil's Children
31 So Jesus was saying to the Jews having believed in him: If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 33 They answered him: We are Abraham's seed, and to no one have we ever been enslaved. How do you tell us that: You will become free? 34 Jesus answered them: Truly truly I say to you that everyone doing sin is [a] slave of sin. 35 Now the slave does not dwell8 in the house[hold] to eternity, the son abides to eternity. 36 So if the son set you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word does not have room in you. 38 What I have seen beside the father I speak, and therefore what you heard from your father you do.39 They answered and said to him: Our father is Abraham. Jesus says to them: If you are children of Abraham, you would have done9 the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill me [a] man who has spoken to you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. 41 You do the works [of your] father.
They said to him: We were not born out of fornication, We have one father—God. 42 Jesus said to them: If God were your father, you would have agape-loved me, for I have gone out from God and have come. For neither am I come from myself, but that [one] sent me. 43 Why do you not know my speech? Because you are not able to be hearing my word. 44 You are from your father the devil10 and you want to be doing the desires [of your] father. That [one] was murderer from the beginning, and he has not stood in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the "lie", he speaks from his own [self], because he is [a] liar and the father [of them]. 45 But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you convicts me of sin? If I say [the] truth, why do you not believe me? 47 The [one] being from God hears the words of God; because of this you do not hear [me], because you are not from God.
48 The Jews answered and said to him: Did we not well say that you are [a] Samaritan and you have [a] demon? 49 Jesus answered: I do not have [a] demon, but [rather] I honor my father, and you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my glory; there is the [one] seeking and judging. 51 Truly truly I say to you, if anyone keep my word, he will not see death to eternity.
52 The Jews said to him: Now we have known that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets, and you say: If you keep my word, you will not taste death unto eternity? 53 You aren't greater than our father Abraham who died, [are you]?6 And the prophets died: whom do you make yourself? 54 Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. The father is the [one] glorifying me, whom you [all]11 say that: He is our God. 55 And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I will be [a] liar like you; but I know him and I keep his word. 56 Abraham your father was glad that he saw my day, and he saw [it] and rejoiced.
57 So the Jews said to him: You do not yet have fifty years, and you have seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said to them: Truly truly I say to you: Before Abraham came to be, I am. 59 So they took stones that they throw [them] upon him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple.
1GE "GAY" (γη) "earth", "land" (remember that they didn't understand about the Earth being a planet floating in space yet), sometimes "ground" or "dirt".
2EROTAO (ερωταω) "Ask", but more polite, not demanding/begging as is AITEO. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.
3imperative
4omit vs. 7:53–8:11: p66,75HℵWB many; include 7:53–8:11: KD vg most
5from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.
6Grammar indicates "no" answer expected or expresses uncertainty
7HUPSAO (υπσαω) to physically "lift up", and to "exalt". This double meaning is used intentially in the Fourth Gospel—to be "lifted up" on the cross = to be exalted. Occurs in John.3:14, John.8:28, John.12:32 and John.12:34
8compare John.14:2 where "dwelling-place" is the noun form of the verb "dwell" here.
9"Abraham, you would have done": p75ℵDWK; "Abrahm, be doing": p66B vg
10DIABOLOS (διαβoλoς ) `slanderer'—someone who disseminates falsehoods about someone.
11"you" is plural