8
“Whichever One of You Is Sinless May Throw the First Stone”
1 [(+7:53—Then each went to his own home.) Jesus, however, went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Early the next morning, Jesus came into the temple courts once again. All the people were coming to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
3 The Torah-experts and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and making her stand where everyone could see her,
4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.
5 In the Torah, Moses commanded us that such women are to be stoned to death. Well then, what about ˢyou? What do you say?”
6 (This they were asking in order to trap him, so that they could have something of which to accuse him.)
Jesus, then, bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.7 As they continued putting questions to him, he straightened himself up and said to them, “Whichever one of you is sinless may throw the first stone at her.”
8 Then bending down once again, he continued writing on the ground.
9 When they heard this, they began to leave one by one, beginning with the older ones. Only Jesus was left, with the woman still there right where everyone could see her.
10 Then Jesus straightened himself up and said to her, “Dear woman, where are your accusers? Has not even one of them condemned you?”
11 “Not one, Lord,” she replied.
“Neither do I myself condemn you,” Jesus said. “You may go your way, but from now on be careful to avoid sin.”]
“I AM the Light of the World”
12 Now then, Jesus spoke to the people once again, saying, “I AM the light of the world! If someone comes along with me as a disciple, he will certainly not walk about in the darkness, but will have the light of life!”
13 “ˢYou are bearing witness on your own behalf!” the Pharisees said to him in response. “ˢYour testimony isn’t reliable!”
14 “Even if I do testify on my own behalf,” replied Jesus, “my testimony is completely reliable, because I know where I came from and to what place I will return. ᵖYou, however, don’t know where I come from and to what place I will return.
15 It is by mere human standards that ᵖyou people pass judgment. As for me, I restrain from condemning anyone,
16 though if I do render such a verdict, my judgment is in full accordance with the truth, because it is not I alone who execute judgment, but I together with the Father who sent me.
17 Now it is written, indeed in ᵖyour own Torah, that the testimony of two witnesses is reliable.
18 I myself am one of the witnesses who testifies on my behalf, and the Father who sent me is the other.”
19 So they asked him, “Where is this father of ˢyours?”
“ᵖYou know neither me,” replied Jesus, “nor my Father. If ᵖyou knew me, you would know, too, my Father.”
20 These words he spoke while teaching in the section of the Court of Women where contributions to the temple were collected. Yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
“When You Have Lifted Up the Son of Man, Then You Will Know That I AM Who I AM”
21 Now then, Jesus said to them again, “I will go away and ᵖyou will look for me, and ᵖyou will die in ᵖyour sin. Where I myself am going, ᵖyou will surely not be able to come.”
22 So the Jewish authorities said, “He keeps saying, ‘Where I myself am going, ᵖyou will surely not be able to come.’ Surely this doesn’t mean that he’s planning to kill himself, does it?”
23 Jesus continued, “ᵖYou come from where? From below. I, however, come from where? From above. It is to this world that ᵖyou belong. As for me, I don’t belong to this world.
24 That is why I told ᵖyou that you will die in your sins. Indeed, ᵖyou will die in your sins unless ᵖyou believe and trust that I AM who I AM.”
25 “Who are ˢyou?” they asked.
“Why should I even speak to ᵖyou at all?” Jesus said to them.26 “There are so many things I could say about ᵖyou and condemn. Nevertheless, the one who sent me is faithful, and I will declare to the world only what I have heard from him.”
27 (They didn’t understand that it was the Father about whom he was speaking to them.)
28 Jesus continued, “When ᵖyou have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM who I AM, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak only what the Father has taught me.
29 And the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t deserted me, for I always do the very things that are pleasing in his sight.”
30 Even as he spoke, many, many people put their faith in him.
“Before Abraham Was Even Born, I AM”
31 Now then, Jesus said to the Jews who had put their faith in him, “If ᵖyou continue in my teaching, then you are, truly, disciples of mine,
32 and will know the truth. And the truth will set ᵖyou free.”
33 “We are the very seed of Abraham himself,” they replied, “and have never been slaves of anyone! So what in the world do ˢyou mean by saying, ‘ᵖYou will be set free?’ ”
34 Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: Everyone who sins is of sin a slave.
35 A slave, moreover, does not remain a part of the household forever. It is a son, rather, who remains in it forever.
36 If the Son, therefore, sets ᵖyou free, you will be truly free.
37 I realize that ᵖyou are ‘the very seed of Abraham himself.’ Yet ᵖyou want to have me killed, because my teaching is making no progress in your hearts.
38 It is the things that I have seen directly in the presence of the Father about which I speak. As for ᵖyou, therefore, it is the things that you have heard from the Father that you must continue to do.+”
39 “Our father is Abraham!” they said.
“If ᵖyou were children,” replied Jesus, “of Abraham, then it is the example of Abraham that you would be following.40 As things now stand, however, ᵖyou are eager to have me killed, a man who has declared to you the very truth that I heard from God. This Abraham most certainly did not do.
41 ᵖYou are following the example of your real father.”
“We’re not illegitimate children!” they replied. “We have only one Father, God himself.”
42 “If God were your Father,” answered Jesus, “you would love me, because I from God have come and am now here. It is not on my own authority, you see, that I have come; no, the Father sent me.
43 Why do ᵖyou my way of speaking fail to understand? Because ᵖyou are unwilling to accept my message.
44 ᵖYou are just like your father, the devil, and it is your father’s desires that ᵖyou are ready to carry out. That deceiver was from the beginning a murderer, and still doesn’t uphold the truth, because there isn’t any truth within him. When he tells a lie, it is out of his own corrupt and deceitful nature that he speaks, because he is a liar, and indeed of all liars the father.
45 I, however, speak the truth, and that is why ᵖyou refuse to believe me.
46 Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If it is truth that I speak, why do ᵖyou refuse to believe me?
47 If someone is born of God, it is the words of God that he hears and accepts. This is the reason why ᵖyou refuse to listen: Born of God ᵖyou are not.”
48 “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” replied the Jews.
49 “I certainly do not have a demon,” answered Jesus. “No, I honor my Father, but ᵖyou dishonor me.
50 I’m not trying to gain praise and honor for myself; there is someone else who demands it and presides as judge.
51 Amen, amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: If someone obeys my teaching, he will surely be spared from death forever into the ages.”
52 “Now we are certain that a demon is what ˢyou have!” said the Jews. “Even Abraham and the prophets died! Yet ˢyou yourself are saying, ‘If someone obeys my teaching, he will surely be spared from death forever into the ages.’
53 Surely you aren’t greater, are you, than our father Abraham? Not even he, or the prophets themselves, escaped death! Just who are you claiming to be?”
54 “If I give honor to myself, that honor is worthless,” replied Jesus. “My Father is the one who honors me, about whom ᵖyou say, ‘He is our God,’
55 though ᵖyou still don’t know him. I myself, however, do know him. If I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be, like ᵖyou people, a liar. But I do know him, and it is his word that I obey.
56 ᵖYour father Abraham longed with great joy to see my time; he foresaw my coming and rejoiced.”
57 “You’re not even fifty years old yet,” replied the Jews, “and yet you have seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: Before Abraham was even born, I AM!”
59 At that, they picked up some stones to throw at him. Jesus, however, hid himself and left the temple area.