John 8:12-30

Christian Standard Bible

The Light of the World

¹² Jesus spoke to them again: “I am^(A) the light^(B) of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”^(C)

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

¹⁴ “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going.^{(D) 15} You judge^(E) by human standards.^[a](F) I judge no one.^{(G) 16} And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.^{(H) 17} Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.^{(I) 18} I am the one who testifies^(J) about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

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

“You know neither me nor my Father,”^(K) Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”^{(L) 20} He spoke these words by the treasury,^(M) while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

Jesus Predicts His Departure

²¹ Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; ^(N) you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.^(O) Where I’m going, you cannot come.”^(P)

²² So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’^(Q)?”

²³ “You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above.^(R) You are of this world; ^(S) I am not of this world.^{(T) 24} Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they questioned.

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. ²⁶ “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me^(U) is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”^(V)

²⁷ They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man,^(W) then you will know that I am^(X) he, and that I do nothing on my own.^(Y) But just as the Father taught me, I say these things. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone,^(Z) because I always do what pleases him.”

Truth and Freedom

³⁰ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.