John 7:45-8:20

Evangelical Heritage Version

⁴⁵ Then the guards came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ The guards answered, “No one ever spoke the way this man does!”

⁴⁷ So the Pharisees answered them, “You have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd, which does not know the law, is cursed!”

⁵⁰ One of them, Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus earlier, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man before we hear from him and find out what he’s doing?”

⁵² “You are not from Galilee too, are you?” they replied. “Search and you will see that a prophet does not come from Galilee.”

⁵³ Then each of them went home.^[a]

The Adulteress

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning, he came back into the temple courts. And all the people kept coming to him. He sat down and taught them.

³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and had her stand in the center. ⁴ “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. ⁵ In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him, so that they might have evidence to accuse him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷ But when they kept on asking him for an answer, he stood up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹ When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the older men. Jesus was left alone with the woman in the center. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, Lord,” she answered.

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹² When Jesus spoke to them again, he said, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “my testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh. I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But even if I were to judge, my judgment would be true, because I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. ¹⁷ Even in your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the offering box. But no one arrested him, because his time had not arrived yet.