John 8
The full text of John 8 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple, and all the people came to him; and he sat down and was teaching them.
3 The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
6 This they said to test him, that they might have something with which to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 And as they continued to ask him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin throw the first stone at her."
8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones; and Jesus was left alone, with the woman who was in the midst.
10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more."
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, "You are testifying about yourself; your testimony is not true."
14 Jesus answered them, "Even if I do testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me.
17 Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.
18 I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me."
19 They said to him therefore, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also."
20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 Again he said to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."
22 So the Jewish leaders said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
23 He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins."
25 So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.
26 I have many things to say about you and to judge; but he who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him I declare to the world."
27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.
28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but speak just as the Father taught me.
29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him."
30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.
31 Jesus said therefore to those Jewish believers who had 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 descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, 'You will become free'?"
34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
35 The slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.
38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39 They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were children of Abraham, you would be doing the works of Abraham,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
41 You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father — God."
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God and have come; for I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me.
43 Why do you not understand my speech? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God."
48 The Jewish leaders answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?"
49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it, and he judges.
51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
52 The Jewish leaders said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Whom do you make yourself out to be?"
54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.'
55 But you do not know him; I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him, and I keep his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."
57 The Jewish leaders therefore said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I am."
59 Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple.
Translation notes (23)
- John 8:1a This verse continues the passage known as the Pericope Adulterae, which is bracketed, as noted in John 7:53. This passage is absent from P66, P75, ℵ, B, A, C, but is present in D and later Byzantine manuscripts, sometimes in varying locations. The content of the passage is preserved.
- John 8:5a Lev 20:10 + Deut 22:22-24 prescribe death for adultery; specific stoning-method applies only to certain cases (e.g., a betrothed virgin). The accusers are framing a trap — by Roman law, only the Roman governor could authorize execution; Jesus's answer must navigate Jewish vs Roman law tension.
- John 8:7a The Greek term `ho anamartētos`, translated "without sin," is a strong expression meaning not just "without this particular sin" but "without sin generally."
- John 8:12a This is the second "I am" (`egō eimi`) statement in John's Gospel, following John 6:35 ("I am the bread of life"). There are seven such "I am" statements: "bread of life" (6:35), "light of the world" (8:12, 9:5), "the door" (10:7, 9), "the good shepherd" (10:11, 14), "the resurrection and the life" (11:25), "the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6), and "the true vine" (15:1). The setting of the Festival of Tabernacles (chapters 7-8) makes this saying especially significant, as the festival's nightly torch-lighting in the Court of Women would have made "light of the world" literally visible.
- John 8:12b 'Light of life' (τὸ φῶς τῆς ζωῆς) — genitive of source: the light that gives life. Echoes 1:4 ('In him was life, and the life was the light of all people') — the prologue's Logos-as-life-as-light architecture restated in personal-discipleship terms ('whoever follows me').
- John 8:17a Reference to Deut 19:15 ('on the evidence of two or three witnesses a charge shall be sustained'). Jesus says 'YOUR law' not 'OUR law' — rhetorical distancing; he is appealing to their own legal tradition to justify himself by it.
- John 8:20a The Greek word `gazophylakion`, meaning "treasury," refers to the area in the Court of Women where offerings were collected. It contained 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles around its walls (compare Mark 12:41, the widow's mite). This was a public and busy area, indicating that Jesus's teaching was open and accessible.
- John 8:22a Suicide-speculation reflects Jewish belief that suicides went to a particular place in the afterlife (cf. Josephus, Jewish War 3.375). The leaders' assumption: Jesus must be heading there if they cannot follow.
- John 8:24a Greek ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι — 'unless you believe that I am.' The absolute ἐγώ εἰμι (no predicate complement) echoes the LXX rendering of God's self-identification: Exod 3:14 'I AM the One who is'; Isa 43:10-13 multiple ἐγώ εἰμι formulas; Isa 47:8, 47:10 'I am, and there is no one besides me.' NIV/KJV/ESV/NRSV smooth to 'I am he' — adding a complement the Greek does not have.
- John 8:24b Plural 'sins' here (Greek ἁμαρτίαις) vs singular 'sin' in v.21 — specific failures vs the corporate sin-condition.
- John 8:25a Greek τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν — multiple parsings: (a) 'just what I have been telling you from the beginning' (most common, NIV/ESV); (b) 'Why am I even talking to you at all?' (treating τὴν ἀρχήν adverbially); (c) 'I am from the beginning what I am telling you' (cf. 1:1 ἐν ἀρχῇ).
- John 8:28a ὑψόω 'lift up' — Johannine double sense: crucifixion + exaltation (cf. 3:14, 12:32, 12:34). The cross both crucifies and glorifies; recognizing the Son of Man at the cross is recognizing him as 'I am.'
- John 8:28b Second absolute ἐγώ εἰμι in this chapter (after v.24). Same Exod 3:14 / Isa 43 echo; here paired with ὑψόω, making the divine-identity claim explicit at the moment of crucifixion-exaltation. NIV smooths to 'that I am he'
- John 8:33a 'Never been enslaved' is historically untrue (Egypt, Babylon, current Roman occupation). The leaders mean ethnic-religious freedom — they have always been Abraham's children, not slaves in their inner identity. Jesus's reply (v.34) reframes 'slavery' morally, not politically.
- John 8:41a 'We were not born of sexual immorality' (ἐκ πορνείας) — possibly a barbed reference to rumors about Jesus's birth (some traditions challenged his paternity). The leaders' counter-charge: WE are legitimate; YOUR origin is suspect. The Christian reader knows the real answer (Matt 1:18-25): the Holy Spirit, not human paternity, conceived Jesus.
- John 8:44a This verse has been tragically misused throughout Christian history as a basis for anti-Jewish polemic. Read in context: Jesus is in heated dialogue with specific Jewish religious leaders who are seeking to kill him (v.40). The verse is NOT a generalization about Jewish people. The exact same verse-pattern appears in Matt 23 (against scribes/Pharisees), in 1 John 3:8-10 (against ANY unbeliever, regardless of ethnicity), in Eph 2:1-3 (against the human race generally before grace). The leaders' rejection-of-Jesus = the same fundamental sin-pattern Scripture attributes to Satan; the polemic is theological, not ethnic.
- John 8:44b 'Murderer from the beginning' — refers to Cain's murder of Abel (Gen 4) understood as Satan-inspired, OR to Satan's role in death-introduction in Genesis 3. Either way, Jesus locates Satan as origin of human violence.
- John 8:44c ὁ ψεύστης καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ — translation options: (1) 'father of lies' (NIV/most: αὐτοῦ refers to ψεῦδος 'lie'); (2) 'father of him [the liar]' — i.e., father of every liar. Reading (1) is more common.
- John 8:48a 'Samaritan' as insult — both ethnic slur (Jewish/Samaritan tensions, cf. 4:9) and theological dismissal (Samaritans held to a different temple-tradition). 'Have a demon' = mad / Satan-possessed. The double accusation is the rhetorical low-point of the dialogue. Note Jesus does not deny Samaritan-association (he ministered to Samaritans in chapter 4); he denies demon-possession only.
- John 8:56a ἠγαλλιάσατο 'rejoiced exuberantly' — strong joy verb. 'My day' = Jesus's coming + work. Possible Jewish-tradition basis: Genesis Rabba 56:6 has Abraham seeing the messianic age in vision. The verse asserts that Abraham foresaw and welcomed Jesus's coming — a strong Christological-chronological claim that sets up v.58's 'before Abraham was, I am.'
- John 8:57a Some manuscripts (P75, ℵ*) read 'has Abraham seen YOU?' (reversing); NA28 prefers the standard reading. Either way, the leaders mock the chronological impossibility — which Jesus's v.58 reply radically affirms in the opposite direction (he is older than Abraham).
- John 8:58a Greek πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί — 'before Abraham came to be, I AM.' This is the climactic absolute ἐγώ εἰμι in the Fourth Gospel and arguably the strongest single self-identification with the divine name in the entire New Testament outside the prologue. The verb-tense contrast is theologically loaded: Abraham 'came to be' (γενέσθαι, aorist of γίνομαι — temporal, contingent existence); Jesus simply 'IS' (εἰμί, present — eternal, non-contingent). Echoes Exod 3:14 ('I AM the One who is') + Isa 43:10 ('that you may know and believe me and understand that I am'). The leaders' immediate reaction (v.59 — taking up stones to throw) confirms they heard a deity-claim worthy of stoning under Lev 24:16 (blasphemy).
- John 8:59a Stoning-attempt confirms they understood v.58 as a deity-claim — blasphemy was the only Mosaic-law charge warranting immediate stoning (Lev 24:16). Some later manuscripts add 'going through the midst of them and so passed by' (KJV's longer reading); NA28 + earliest mss have only 'was hidden, and went out.'
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