John 8 — Legacy Standard Bible

An Adulteress Forgiven

8But Jesus went to ^athe Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and ^aHe sat down and began to teach them. ³The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵“Now in the Law ^aMoses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶They were saying this, ^atesting Him, ^bso that they might have evidence to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷But when they persisted in asking Him, ^aHe straightened up and said to them, “^bLet him who is without sin among you be the ^cfirst to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. ¹⁰^aStraightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, ¹Lord.” And Jesus said, “^aI do not condemn you, either. Go, and from now on ^bsin no more.”]

I Am the Light of the World

¹²Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “^aI am the Light of the world; ^bhe who follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “^aYou are bearing witness about Yourself; Your witness is not ¹true.” ¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “^aEven if I bear witness about Myself, My witness is ¹true, for I know ^bwhere I came from and where I am going; but ^cyou do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵“^aYou judge ¹according to the flesh; ^bI am not judging anyone. ¹⁶“But even ^aif I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. ¹⁷“Even in ^ayour law it has been written that the witness of ^btwo men is ¹true. ¹⁸“I am He who bears witness about Myself, and ^athe Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.” ¹⁹So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; ^aif you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” ²⁰These words He spoke in ^athe treasury, as ^bHe was teaching in the temple; and no one seized Him, because ^cHis hour had not yet come.

²¹Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and ^ayou will seek Me, and ^bwill die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²²So ^athe Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, since He says, ‘^bWhere I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³And He was saying to them, “^aYou are from below, I am from above. ^bYou are of this world, ^cI am not of this world. ²⁴“Therefore I said to you that you ^awill die in your sins. For unless you believe that ¹^,^bI am He, ^cyou will die in your sins.” ²⁵So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “¹What have I been saying to you from the beginning? ²⁶“I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but ^aHe who sent Me is true; and ^bthe things which I heard from Him, these I am saying to the world.” ²⁷They did not know that He had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you ^alift up the Son of Man, then you will know that ¹^,^bI am He, and ^cI do nothing from Myself, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. ²⁹“And He who sent Me is with Me; ^aHe ¹has not left Me alone, for ^bI always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” ³⁰As He was speaking these things, ^amany believed in Him.

The Son Will Make You Free

³¹So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “^aIf you abide in My word, then you are truly My ^bdisciples; ³²and ^ayou will know the truth, and ^bthe truth will make you free.” ³³They answered Him, “^aWe are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aeveryone who commits sin is the slave of sin. ³⁵“^aAnd the slave does not remain in the house forever; ^bthe son does remain forever. ³⁶“So if the Son ^amakes you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷“I know that you are ^aAbraham’s seed; yet ^byou are seeking to kill Me, because My word ¹has no place in you. ³⁸“I speak the things which I have seen ¹with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from ^ayour father.”

³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is ^aour father.” Jesus *said to them, “^bIf you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰“But now ^ayou are seeking to kill Me, a man who has ^btold you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. ⁴¹“You are doing the deeds of ^ayour father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; ^bwe have one Father: God.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ^ayou would love Me, ^bfor I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have ^cnot even come of Myself, but ¹^,^dHe sent Me. ⁴³“Why do you not understand ¹^,^awhat I am saying? It is because you cannot ^bhear My word. ⁴⁴“^aYou are of ^byour father the devil, and ^cyou want to do the desires of your father. ^dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because ^ethere is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks ¹a lie, he ^fspeaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of ²lies. ⁴⁵“But because ^aI speak the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶“Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If ^aI speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷“^aHe who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

⁴⁸^aThe Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a ^bSamaritan and ^chave a demon?” ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not ^ahave a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰“But ^aI do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. ⁵¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone ^akeeps My word he will never ^bsee death—ever.” ⁵²^aThe Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You ^bhave a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone ^ckeeps My word, he will never ^dtaste of death—ever.’ ⁵³“Surely You ^aare not greater than our father Abraham who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴Jesus answered, “^aIf I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; ^bit is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵and ^ayou have not known Him, ^bbut I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be ^ca liar like you, ^dbut I do know Him and ^ekeep His word. ⁵⁶“^aYour father Abraham ^brejoiced ¹to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷^aSo the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ^aI am.” ⁵⁹Therefore they ^apicked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus ¹^,^bhid Himself and went out of the temple.