John 8:3-29

³Then men who taught the Jewish laws and some of SYN the Pharisee religious group brought a woman to him. She was seized { They had arranged to seize her} while she was having sex with a man who was not her husband. They made her stand up in front of the group that was listening to Jesus.

⁴Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was seized { we seized this woman} while she was having sex with a man who is not her husband.

⁵Moses commanded us in the laws that he gave us that we should throw stones at such women and kill them. So what do you say we should do?”

⁶They asked this question as a trap so that they could accuse him. If he said that they should not kill her, they would shame him for disobeying the law of Moses. If he said that they should kill her, they could accuse him to the Roman governor. But Jesus bent down and wrote something on the ground with his finger.

⁷While they continued to question him, he stood up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has never sinned can be the first one to start throwing stones at her.”

⁸Then he stooped down and wrote some more on the ground.

⁹After they heard what he said, those who were questioning him went away, one by one, the older ones first and then the younger ones, knowing they were all sinners. Finally only Jesus was there, along with the woman.

¹⁰Jesus stood up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one said you must die for your sin?”

¹¹She said, “No, sir, no one.” Then Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go home now, and do not continue your sinful life any longer!”

¹²Jesus spoke to the people again. He said, “I am like a light MET for all the people in MTY the world. Just like a light reveals what has been in the darkness MET, I reveal God's truth to them. Those who walk in the darkness are unaware of what is around them. But those who become my disciples will always be aware of God's truth MET. They will have my light which shows them how to have eternal life.”

¹³So the Pharisees said to him, “You are just telling about yourself! Since there is no one else to verify these things that you say about yourself, we do not need to accept that what you say is true.”

¹⁴Jesus replied, “Even if I were the only one to say these things about myself, what I say is true, because I know that I came from heaven, and I know that I am going back to heaven. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going.

¹⁵You judge people according to human standards. The reason that I am here is not ◄to condemn people/to say that I will punish people► for their sins.

¹⁶But if I did judge people, what I decided would be correct, because I am not the only one who will decide those things. I and the one who sent me will both decide.

¹⁷It is written { Moses wrote} in your law that if at least two people testify that some event has happened, people should consider that what they say is true.

¹⁸I am telling you about myself, and the other one who is telling you about me is my Father who sent me. So you should believe that what we declare is true.”

¹⁹Then they asked him, “ If you have a father whom we can question about you, where is he?” Jesus replied, “You do not know who I really am. If you knew who I really am, you would know who my Father is also.”

²⁰He said these things when he was in the Temple courtyard, near the place where the people put their offerings. This was also very close to the place where the Jewish council met. But no one seized him to arrest him, because it was not yet time MTY for him to suffer and die.

²¹Jesus also said to them, “I will soon be going away. Then at the end of your life you will seek me, but you will die without God forgiving your sins. Where I will go, you will not be able to come.”

²²So the Jewish leaders said among themselves, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that the reason that he said, ‘Where I go, you will not be able to come’?”

²³But Jesus continued by saying to them, “You were born here in this world, but I came from heaven. You belong to those who are opposed to God MTY. I do not belong to them.

²⁴I told you that you will die without God forgiving your sins. If you do not believe that I am who I say that I am, you will die without God forgiving your sins.”

²⁵So they said to him, “You! Who do you think you are?” Jesus said to them, “Ever since I began teaching, I have been telling you who I am!

²⁶I could judge you and say that you are guilty of many things. But instead, I will say only what the one who sent me tells me to say. What he says is true, and I tell the people in the world MTY what I have heard from him.”

²⁷They did not understand that he was talking about his Father in heaven.

²⁸So Jesus said, “I am the one who came down from heaven, but when you lift me up on a cross to kill me, you will know who I am. You will also know that I do not do anything with my own authority. Instead, I say just what my Father has taught me.

²⁹He is the one who sent me, and he helps me. Because I always do the things that please him, he has never abandoned me.”