John 8:21-47

Good News Translation

You Cannot Go Where I Am Going

²¹ Again Jesus said to them, “I will go away; you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot go where I am going.”

²² So the Jewish authorities said, “He says that we cannot go where he is going. Does this mean that he will kill himself?”

²³ Jesus answered, “You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world. ²⁴ That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked him.

Jesus answered, “What I have told you from the very beginning.^{[a] 26} I have much to say about you, much to condemn you for. The one who sent me, however, is truthful, and I tell the world only what I have heard from him.”

²⁷ They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So he said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that ‘I Am Who I Am’; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say. ²⁹ And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; ^32 (A)you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

^33 (B)“We are the descendants of Abraham,” they answered, “and we have never been anybody's slaves. What do you mean, then, by saying, ‘You will be free’?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin. ³⁵ A slave does not belong to a family permanently, but a son belongs there forever. ³⁶ If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free. ³⁷ I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching. ³⁸ I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”

³⁹ They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”

“If you really were Abraham's children,” Jesus replied, “you would do^[b] the same things that he did. ⁴⁰ All I have ever done is to tell you the truth I heard from God, yet you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like this! ⁴¹ You are doing what your father did.”

“God himself is the only Father we have,” they answered, “and we are his true children.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God really were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. ^44 (C)You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. ⁴⁵ But I tell the truth, and that is why you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you can prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, then why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷ He who comes from God listens to God's words. You, however, are not from God, and that is why you will not listen.”