Chapter 8

Jesus meanwhile went to the mount of Olives.

And at early morning he appeared again in the temple; all the common folk came to him, and he sat down there and began to teach them.

And now the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman who had been found committing adultery, and made her stand there in full view;

Master, they said, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

Moses, in his law, prescribed that such persons should be stoned to death; what of thee? What is thy sentence?

They said this to put him to the test, hoping to find a charge to bring against him. But Jesus bent down, and began writing on the ground with his finger.

When he found that they continued to question him, he looked up and said to them, Whichever of you is free from sin shall cast the first stone at her.

Then he bent down again, and went on writing on the ground.

And they began to go out one by one, beginning with the eldest, till Jesus was left alone with the woman, still standing in full view.

Then Jesus looked up, and asked her, Woman, where are thy accusers? Has no one condemned thee?

No one, Lord, she said. And Jesus said to her, I will not condemn thee either. Go, and do not sin again henceforward.

And now once more Jesus spoke to them, I am the light of the world, he said. He who follows me can never walk in darkness; he will possess the light which is life.

Whereupon the Pharisees told him, Thou art testifying on thy own behalf, thy testimony is worth nothing.

Jesus answered them, My testimony is trustworthy, even when I testify on my own behalf; I know whence I have come, and where I am going; you do not know whence I have come, you do not know where I am going.

You set yourselves up to judge, after your earthly fashion; I do not set myself up to judge anybody.

And what if I should judge? My judgement is judgement indeed; it is not I alone, my Father who sent me is with me.

Just so it is prescribed in your law, The testimony of two men is trustworthy;

well, one is myself, testifying in my own behalf, and my Father who sent me testifies in my behalf too.

Hereupon they said to him, Where is this Father of thine? And Jesus answered, You have no knowledge, either of me or of my Father; had you knowledge of me, you would have knowledge of my Father as well.

All this Jesus said at the Treasury, while he was teaching in the temple; and no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

And he said to them again, I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will have to die with your sins upon you; where I am going is where you cannot come.

At this, the Jews began to ask, Will he kill himself? Is that what he means by, Where I am going is where you cannot come?

But he went on to say, You belong to earth, I to heaven; you to this world, I to another.

That is why I have been telling you that you will die with your sins upon you; you will die with your sins upon you unless you come to believe that it is myself you look for.

Who art thou, then? they asked. Jesus said to them, What, that I should be speaking to you at all?

There is much I could say of you, many judgements I could pass on you; but what I tell the world is only what I have learned from him who sent me, because he cannot deceive.

And they could not understand that he was calling God his Father.

Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will recognize that it is myself you look for, and that I do not do anything on my own authority, but speak as my Father has instructed me to speak.

And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me all alone, since what I do is always what pleases him.

While he spoke thus, many of the Jews learned to believe in him.

And now Jesus said to those among the Jews who believed in him, If you continue faithful to my word, you are my disciples in earnest;

so you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

They answered him, We are of Abraham’s breed, nobody ever enslaved us yet; what dost thou mean by saying, You shall become free?

And Jesus answered them, Believe me when I tell you this; everyone who acts sinfully is the slave of sin,

and the slave cannot make his home in the house for ever. To make his home in the house for ever, is for the Son.

Why then, if it is the Son who makes you free men, you will have freedom in earnest.

Yes, I know you are of Abraham’s breed; yet you design to kill me, because my word does not find any place in you.

My words are what I have learned in the house of my Father, and your actions, it seems, are what you have learned in the school of your father.

Our father? they answered him; Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you are Abraham’s true children, it is for you to follow Abraham’s example;

as it is, you are designing to kill me, who tell you the truth as I have heard it from God; this was not Abraham’s way.

No, it is your father’s example you follow. And now they said to him, We are no bastard children; God, and he only, is the Father we recognize.

Jesus told them, If you were children of God, you would welcome me gladly; it was from God I took my origin, from him I have come. I did not come on my own errand, it was he who sent me.

Why is it that you cannot understand the language I talk? It is because you have no ear for the message I bring.

You belong to your father, that is, the devil, and are eager to gratify the appetites which are your father’s. He, from the first, was a murderer; and as for truth, he has never taken his stand upon that; there is no truth in him. When he utters falsehood, he is only uttering what is natural to him; he is all false, and it was he who gave falsehood its birth.

And if you do not believe me, it is precisely because I am speaking the truth.

Can any of you convict me of sin? If not, why is it that you do not believe me when I tell you the truth?

The man who belongs to God listens to God’s words; it is because you do not belong to God that you will not listen to me.

Hereupon the Jews answered him, We are right, surely, in saying that thou art a Samaritan, and art possessed?

I am not possessed, Jesus answered; it is because I reverence my Father that you have no reverence for me.

Not that I am looking to my own reputation; there is another who will look to it, and be the judge.

Believe me when I tell you this; if a man is true to my word, to all eternity he will never see death.

And the Jews said to him, Now we are certain that thou art possessed. What of Abraham and the prophets? They are dead; and thou sayest that a man will never taste death to all eternity, if he is true to thy word.

Art thou greater than our father Abraham? He is dead, and the prophets are dead. What dost thou claim to be?

If I should speak in my own honour, Jesus answered, such honour goes for nothing. Honour must come to me from my Father, from him whom you claim as your God;

although you cannot recognize him. But I have knowledge of him; if I should say I have not, I should be what you are, a liar. Yes, I have knowledge of him, and I am true to his word.

As for your father Abraham, his heart was proud to see the day of my coming; he saw, and rejoiced to see it.

Then the Jews asked him, Hast thou seen Abraham, thou, who art not yet fifty years old?

And Jesus said to them, Believe me, before ever Abraham came to be, I am.

Whereupon they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.