³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[a] to sin. ^35 (B)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(C)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(D)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (E)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(F)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(G)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(H)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(I)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(J)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(K)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(L)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(M)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(N)I came from God and ^(O)I am here. ^(P)I came not of my own accord, but ^(Q)he sent me. ^43 (R)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(S)bear to hear my word. ^44 (T)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(U)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(V)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(W)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ^47 (X)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(Y)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(Z)you are not of God.”

¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single ^(A)proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a ^(B)child of ^(C)hell^[a] as yourselves.