John 7:45-9:12

English Standard Version

^45 (A)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(B)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(C)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (D)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (E)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (F)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(G)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(H)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(I)no prophet arises from Galilee.”

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]^[a]

The Woman Caught in Adultery

⁵³ [[They went each to his own house, 8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ^2 (J)Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and ^(K)he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now ^(L)in the Law, Moses commanded us ^(M)to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said ^(N)to test him, ^(O)that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ^(P)“Let him who is without sin among you ^(Q)be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, ^(R)“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on ^(S)sin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

^12 (T)Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(U)“I am the light of the world. Whoever ^(V)follows me will not ^(W)walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, ^(X)“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^(Y)my testimony is true, for I know ^(Z)where I came from and ^(AA)where I am going, but ^(AB)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (AC)You judge according to the flesh; ^(AD)I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, ^(AE)my judgment is true, for ^(AF)it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[b] who sent me. ^17 (AG)In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^(AH)the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^(AI)“You know neither me nor my Father. ^(AJ)If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in ^(AK)the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^(AL)no one arrested him, because ^(AM)his hour had not yet come.

²¹ So he said to them again, ^(AN)“I am going away, and ^(AO)you will seek me, and ^(AP)you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews said, ^(AQ)“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, ^(AR)“You are from below; I am from above. ^(AS)You are of this world; ^(AT)I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you ^(AU)would die in your sins, for ^(AV)unless you believe that ^(AW)I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, ^(AX)“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have much to say about you and much to judge, but ^(AY)he who sent me is true, and I declare ^(AZ)to the world ^(BA)what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that ^(BB)he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you have ^(BC)lifted up the Son of Man, ^(BD)then you will know that ^(BE)I am he, and that ^(BF)I do nothing on my own authority, but ^(BG)speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹ And ^(BH)he who sent me is with me. ^(BI)He has not left me alone, for ^(BJ)I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰ As he was saying these things, ^(BK)many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^(BL)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will ^(BM)know the truth, and the truth ^(BN)will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, ^(BO)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(BP)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[c] to sin. ^35 (BQ)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(BR)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 ^(BS)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (BT)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(BU)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(BV)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(BW)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(BX)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(BY)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(BZ)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(CA)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(CB)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(CC)I came from God and ^(CD)I am here. ^(CE)I came not of my own accord, but ^(CF)he sent me. ^43 (CG)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(CH)bear to hear my word. ^44 (CI)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(CJ)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(CK)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(CL)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 (CM)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(CN)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(CO)you are not of God.”

Before Abraham Was, I Am

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and ^(CP)have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but ^(CQ)I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet ^(CR)I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, ^(CS)I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(CT)see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! ^(CU)Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet ^(CV)you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(CW)taste death.’ ^53 (CX)Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, ^(CY)“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. ^(CZ)It is my Father who glorifies me, ^(DA)of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’^{[d] 55} But ^(DB)you have not known him. ^(DC)I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be ^(DD)a liar ^(DE)like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. ^56 (DF)Your father Abraham ^(DG)rejoiced ^(DH)that he would see my day. ^(DI)He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”^{[e] 58} Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ^(DJ)I am.” ⁵⁹ So ^(DK)they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, ^(DL)“Rabbi, ^(DM)who sinned, ^(DN)this man or ^(DO)his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but ^(DP)that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must ^(DQ)work the works of him who sent me ^(DR)while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, ^(DS)I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Having said these things, ^(DT)he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. ^(DU)Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in ^(DV)the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and ^(DW)came back seeing.

⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ^(DX)“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, ^(DY)“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”