| Scripture |
Additional Comments |
| 1 And at dawn he came again to the temple, |
According to Professor Tischendorf's Notes, Verses 1-11 are spurious. Nevertheless very many translations contain these verses. According to the law when people were caught in adultery they were to be put to death by stoning (Lev. 20:10). However, for the death penalty, it must be established by two or three witnesses (Deut.17:6; 19:15). The LORD added responsibility to the witnesses in that they were to be the ones who cast the first stones. (Deut. 17:7 "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.") What our Lord did here is remarkable indeed. Not only did he, by his remark to the witnesses "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," cause all to leave her alone, but his grasp of the law insured that He was not in a position to condemn her either. Since Jesus did not witness the act and the law required the witnesses to be the first to take action to put her to death and afterward all the people, Jesus, therefore was not in a position to take action against her. |
| 2 and all the people were coming unto him, and having sat down, he was teaching them; |
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| 3 and the scribes and the Pharisees bring unto him a woman having been taken in adultery, and having set her in the midst, |
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| 4 they say to him, 'Teacher, this woman was taken in the very crime committing adultery, |
It is interesting to note that under the Law, both the man and the woman were to be put to death. Since the scribes and Pharisees claimed she was caught "in the very act," it would appear that they themselves were in violation of the Law because they did not bring the man also. Lev. 20:10 |
| 5 and in the law, Moses did command us that such be stoned; thou, therefore, what dost thou say ' |
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| 6 and this they said, trying him, that they might have to accuse him. And Jesus, having stooped down, with the finger he was writing on the ground, |
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| 7 and when they continued asking him, having bent himself back, he said unto them, 'The sinless of you let him first cast the stone at her;'
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| 8 and again having stooped down, he was writing on the ground, |
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| 9 and they having heard, and by the conscience being convicted, were going forth one by one, having begun from the elders unto the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. |
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| 10 And Jesus having bent himself back, and having seen no one but the woman, said to her, 'Woman, where are those thine accusers did no one pass sentence upon thee '
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Where are those thine accusers – Jesus here makes reference to the Law (Deut. 17:6) that no one could be put to death except by the mouth of two or three witnesses. |
| 11 and she said, 'No one, Sir;' and Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I pass sentence on thee; be going on, and no more sin.'
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Neither do I condemn thee – Jesus again is referring to the same part of the Law (Deut. 17:7) which declares that the witnesses must be the first to take physical action against those to be put to death, and afterward the rest of the people. Since the witnesses had left, and they had to cast the first stones, it would have been a violation of the Law for Jesus (or anyone else) to take action to put her to death. |
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| 12 Again, therefore, Jesus spake to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world; he who is following me shall not walk in the darkness, but he shall have the light of the life.'
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| 13 The Pharisees, therefore, said to him, 'Thou of thyself dost testify, thy testimony is not true;' |
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| 14 Jesus answered and said to them, 'And if I testify of myself my testimony is true, because I have known whence I came, and whither I go, and ye ye have not known whence I come, or whither I go.
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| 15 'Ye according to the flesh do judge; I do not judge any one,
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| 16 and even if I do judge my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me;
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| 17 and also in your law it hath been written, that the testimony of two men are true;
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| 18 I am [one] who is testifying of myself, and the Father who sent me doth testify of me.'
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| 19 They said, therefore, to him, 'Where is thy father ' Jesus answered, 'Ye have neither known me nor my Father: if me ye had known, my Father also ye had known.'
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| 20 These sayings spake Jesus in the treasury, teaching in the temple, and no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come; |
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| 21 therefore said Jesus again to them, 'I go away, and ye will seek me, and in your sin ye shall die; whither I go away, ye are not able to come.'
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| 22 The Jews, therefore, said, 'Will he kill himself, because he saith, Whither I go away, ye are not able to come ' |
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| 23 and he said to them, 'Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world;
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| 24 I said, therefore, to you, that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye may not believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins.'
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| 25 They said, therefore, to him, 'Thou who art thou ' and Jesus said to them, 'Even what I did speak of to you at the beginning;
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| 26 many things I have to speak concerning you and to judge, but He who sent me is true, and I what things I heard from Him these I say to the world.'
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| 27 They knew not that of the Father he spake to them; |
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| 28 Jesus, therefore, said to them, 'When ye may lift up the Son of Man then ye will know that I am [he]; and of myself I do nothing, but according as my Father did teach me, these things I speak;
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| 29 and He who sent me is with me; the Father did not leave me alone, because I, the things pleasing to Him, do always.'
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| 30 As he is speaking these things, many believed in him; |
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| 31 Jesus, therefore, said unto the Jews who believed in him, 'If ye may remain in my word, truly my disciples ye are, and ye shall know the truth, |
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| 32 and the truth shall make you free.' |
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| 33 They answered him, 'Seed of Abraham we are; and to no one have we been servants at any time; how dost thou say Ye shall become free ' |
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| 34 Jesus answered them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you Every one who is committing sin, is a servant of the sin,
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| 35 and the servant doth not remain in the house to the age, the son doth remain to the age;
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| 36 if then the son may make you free, in reality ye shall be free.
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| 37 'I have known that ye are seed of Abraham, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you;
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| 38 I that which I have seen with my Father do speak, and ye, therefore, that which ye have seen with your father ye do.'
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| 39 They answered and said to him, 'Our father is Abraham;' Jesus saith to them, 'If children of Abraham ye were, the works of Abraham ye were doing;
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| 40 and now, ye seek to kill me a man who hath spoken to you the truth I heard from God; this Abraham did not;
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| 41 ye do the works of your father.'
They said, therefore, to him, 'We of whoredom have not been born; one Father we have God;' |
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| 42 Jesus then said to them, 'If God were your father, ye were loving me, for I came forth from God, and am come; for neither have I come of myself, but He sent me;
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| 43 wherefore do ye not know my speech because ye are not able to hear my word.
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| 44 'Ye are of a father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will to do; he was a man-slayer from the beginning, and in the truth he hath not stood, because there is no truth in him; when one may speak the falsehood, of his own he speaketh, because he is a liar also his father.
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| 45 'And because I say the truth, ye do not believe me.
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| 46 Who of you doth convict me of sin and if I speak truth, wherefore do ye not believe me
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| 47 he who is of God, the sayings of God he doth hear; because of this ye do not hear, because of God ye are not.'
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| 48 The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him, 'Do we not say well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon ' |
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| 49 Jesus answered, 'I have not a demon, but I honour my Father, and ye dishonour me;
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| 50 and I do not seek my own glory; there is who is seeking and is judging;
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| 51 verily, verily, I say to you, If any one may keep my word, death he may not see to the age.'
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| 52 The Jews, therefore, said to him, 'Now we have known that thou hast a demon; Abraham did die, and the prophets, and thou dost say, If any one may keep my word, he shall not taste of death to the age! |
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| 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died and the prophets died; whom dost thou make thyself ' |
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| 54 Jesus answered, 'If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who is glorifying me, of whom ye say that He is your God;
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| 55 and ye have not known Him, and I have known Him, and if I say that I have not known Him, I shall be like you speaking falsely; but I have known Him, and His word I keep;
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| 56 Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.'
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| 57 The Jews, therefore, said unto him, 'Thou art not yet fifty years old, and Abraham hast thou seen ' |
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| 58 Jesus said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming I am;'
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| 59 they took up, therefore, stones that they may cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. |
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