John 8

¹ and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

² At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as al the people came to him, he sat down andbegan to teach them.

³ The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; andmaking her stand there in the middle

⁴ they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery,

⁵ and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?'

⁶ They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down andstarted writing on the ground with his finger.

⁷ As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who isguiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.'

⁸ Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had goneand Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle.

¹⁰ Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'

¹¹ 'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sinno more.'

¹² When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: I am the light of the world; anyone who fol ows me wilnot be walking in the dark, but wil have the light of life.

¹³ At this the Pharisees said to him, 'You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not true.'

¹⁴ Jesus replied: Even though I am testifying on my own behalf, my testimony is stil true, because I knowwhere 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 by human standards; I judge no one,

¹⁶ but if I judge, my judgement will be true, because I am not alone: the one who sent me is with me;

¹⁷ and in your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.

¹⁸ I testify on my own behalf, but the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf, too.

¹⁹ They asked him, 'Where is your Father then?' Jesus answered: You do not know me, nor do you knowmy Father; if you did know me, you would know my Father as wel .

²⁰ He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him, becausehis hour had not yet come.

²¹ Again he said to them: I am going away; you will look for me and you wil die in your sin. Where I amgoing, you cannot come.

²² So the Jews said to one another, 'Is he going to kil himself, that he says, "Where I am going, youcannot come?" '

²³ Jesus went on: You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

²⁴ I have told you already: You wil die in your sins. Yes, if you do not believe that I am He, you wil die inyour sins.

²⁵ So they said to him, 'Who are you?' Jesus answered: What I have told you from the outset.

²⁶ About you I have much to say and much to judge; but the one who sent me is true, and what I declareto the world I have learnt from him.

²⁷ They did not recognise that he was talking to them about the Father.

²⁸ So Jesus said: When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you wil know that I am He and that I donothing of my own accord. What I say is what the Father has taught me;

²⁹ he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him.

³⁰ As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

³¹ To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: If you make my word your home you wil indeed be mydisciples;

³² you wil come to know the truth, and the truth wil set you free.

³³ They answered, 'We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone;what do you mean, "You wil be set free?" '

³⁴ Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave.

³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever.

³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.

³⁷ I know that you are descended from Abraham; but you want to kil me because my word finds no placein you.

³⁸ What I speak of is what I have seen at my Father's side, and you too put into action the lessons youhave learnt from your father.

³⁹ They repeated, 'Our father is Abraham.' Jesus said to them: If you are Abraham's children, do asAbraham did.

⁴⁰ As it is, you want to kill me, a man who has told you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is notwhat Abraham did.

⁴¹ You are doing your father's work. They replied, 'We were not born illegitimate, the only father we haveis God.'

⁴² Jesus answered: If God were your father, you would love me, since I have my origin in God and havecome from him; I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me.

⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? Because you cannot bear to listen to my words.

⁴⁴ You are from your father, the devil, and you prefer to do what your father wants. He was a murdererfrom the start; he was never grounded in the truth; there is no truth in him at all. When he lies he is speaking trueto his nature, because he is a liar, and the father of lies.

⁴⁵ But it is because I speak the truth that you do not believe me.

⁴⁶ Can any of you convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?

⁴⁷ Whoever comes from God listens to the words of God; the reason why you do not listen is that you arenot from God.

⁴⁸ The Jews replied, 'Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and possessed by a devil?'Jesus answered:

⁴⁹ I am not possessed; but I honour my Father, and you deny me honour.

⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is someone who does seek it and is the judge of it.

⁵¹ In al truth I tel you, whoever keeps my word wil never see death.

⁵² The Jews said, 'Now we know that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead,and yet you say, "Whoever keeps my word wil never know the taste of death."

⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are youclaiming to be?'

⁵⁴ Jesus answered: If I were to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory isconferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, 'He is our God,'

⁵⁵ although you do not know him. But I know him, and if I were to say, 'I do not know him,' I should be aliar, as you yourselves are. But I do know him, and I keep his word.

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.

⁵⁷ The Jews then said, 'You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!'

⁵⁸ Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I am.

⁵⁹ At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.