John 8:21

THE MESSAGE

Then he went over the same ground again. "I'm leaving and you are going to look for me, but you're missing God in this and are headed for a dead end. There is no way you can come with me."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then he said to them again, “I’m going away;

King James Version (1611)
Then saide Iesus againe vnto them, I goe my way, and ye shall seeke me, & shall die in your sinnes: Whither I goe, ye cannot come.

King James Version
Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

English Standard Version
So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

New American Standard Bible
Then He said again to them, "I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."

New Century Version
Again, Jesus said to the people, "I will leave you, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going."

Amplified Bible
Then He said again to them, "I am going away, and you will look for Me, and you will die [unforgiven and condemned] in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."

Legacy Standard Bible
Then He said again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

Berean Standard Bible
Again He said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

Contemporary English Version
Jesus also told them, "I am going away, and you will look for me. But you cannot go where I am going, and you will die with your sins unforgiven."

Complete Jewish Bible
Again he told them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come."

Darby Translation
He said therefore again to them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin; where I go ye cannot come.

Easy-to-Read Version
Again, Jesus said to the people, "I will leave you. You will look for me, but you will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then saide Iesus againe vnto them, I goe my way, and ye shal seeke me, and shal die in your sinnes, Whither I goe, can ye not come.

George Lamsa Translation
Jesus again said to them, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins; and where I am going you cannot come.

Good News Translation
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."

Lexham English Bible
So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come!"

Literal Translation
Then Jesus said to them again, I go, and you will seek Me. And you will die in your sin. Where I go, you are not able to come.

American Standard Version
He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come.

Bible in Basic English
Then he said to them again, I am going away and you will be looking for me, but death will overtake you in your sins. It is not possible for you to come where I am going.

Hebrew Names Version
Yeshua said therefore again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and will die in your sins. Where I go, you can't come."

International Standard Version
Later on he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going."John 7:34;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
Jeshu said again, I go, and you will seek me, and will die in your sins; and where I go you cannot come.

Murdock Translation
Again Jesus said to them: I go away, and ye will seek me, and will die in your sins. And whither I go, ye cannot come.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then sayde Iesus againe vnto them: I go my way, and ye shall seeke me, and shall dye in your synnes: Whyther I go, thyther can ye not come.

English Revised Version
He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come.

World English Bible
Jesus said therefore again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and will die in your sins. Where I go, you can't come."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then said Jesus again to them, I go, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin.

Weymouth's New Testament
Again He said to them, "I am going away. Then you will try to find me, but you will die in your sins. Where I am going, it is impossible for you to come."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor eft Jhesus seide to hem, Lo! Y go, and ye schulen seke me, and ye schulen die in youre synne; whidur Y go, ye moun not come.

Update Bible Version
He said therefore again to them, I go away, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: where I go, you can't come.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said Jesus again to them, I am going away, and ye will seek me, and will die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

New English Translation
Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will look for me but will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come."

New King James Version
Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come."

New Living Translation
Later Jesus said to them again, "I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."

New Life Bible
Jesus spoke to the Jews again, saying, "I am going away. You will look for Me but you will die in your sins. Where I am going, you cannot come."

New Revised Standard
Again he said to them, "I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He said unto them again, therefore - I, go, and ye shall seek me, - and yet, in your sin, shall ye die: Whither, I, go, ye, cannot come.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Again therefore Jesus said to them: I go: and you shall seek me. And you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come.

Revised Standard Version
Again he said to them, "I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then sayde Iesus agayne vnto them. I goo my waye and ye shall seke me and shall dye in youre synnes. Whyther I goo thyther can ye not come.

Young's Literal Translation
therefore said Jesus again to them, `I go away, and ye will seek me, and in your sin ye shall die; whither I go away, ye are not able to come.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde Iesus agayne vnto them: I go my waye, and ye shal seke me, and shal dye in youre synnes: whither I go, thither can not ye come.

Mace New Testament (1729)
Jesus therefore repeated what he had said, "I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your incredulity, so that whither I go, ye cannot come."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus repeated himself later, "I am leaving soon. You will look for me, but you'll only find death when your sins catch up to you. You can't find me because you can't go where I am headed."

Contextual Overview

²¹ Then he went over the same ground again. "I'm leaving and you are going to look for me, but you're missing God in this and are headed for a dead end. There is no way you can come with me." ²² The Jews said, "So, is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by ‘You can't come with me'?" ²³Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives." ²⁵They said to him, "Just who are you anyway?" Jesus said, "What I've said from the start. I have so many things to say that concern you, judgments to make that affect you, but if you don't accept the trustworthiness of the One who commanded my words and acts, none of it matters. That is who you are questioning—not me but the One who sent me." ²⁷They still didn't get it, didn't realize that he was referring to the Father. So Jesus tried again. "When you raise up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am—that I'm not making this up, but speaking only what the Father taught me. The One who sent me stays with me. He doesn't abandon me. He sees how much joy I take in pleasing him." ³⁰ When he put it in these terms, many people decided to believe.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I go: John 7:34, John 12:33, John 12:35, 1 Kings 18:10, 2 Kings 2:16, 2 Kings 2:17, Matthew 23:39, Matthew 24:23, Matthew 24:24

and shall die: John 8:24, Job 20:11, Psalms 73:18-20, Proverbs 11:7, Proverbs 14:32, Isaiah 65:20, Ezekiel 3:18, Ezekiel 3:19, Luke 16:22-26, 1 Corinthians 15:17, 1 Corinthians 15:18, Ephesians 2:1

whither: John 7:34, John 13:33, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46

Reciprocal: Numbers 27:3 - died in his Ezra 9:15 - in our trespasses Job 36:12 - die Isaiah 22:14 - Surely Isaiah 55:6 - Seek Ezekiel 18:18 - even Ezekiel 18:24 - in his Ezekiel 33:6 - he is Zechariah 11:9 - I will Mark 8:13 - General Luke 13:24 - for Luke 14:24 - General Luke 17:22 - when John 12:8 - but John 14:19 - a little 1 Corinthians 15:56 - sting 2 Peter 2:12 - perish Revelation 22:11 - that is unjust

Cross-References

Genesis 3:17
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

Genesis 6:5
God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, "I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I'm sorry I made them."

Genesis 6:17
"I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

Genesis 8:1
Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.

Genesis 8:7
He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn't even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.

Genesis 8:10
He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.

Genesis 8:15
God spoke to Noah: "Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth."

Genesis 8:22
For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."

Psalms 58:3
The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle; their first words out of the womb are lies. Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison, drips from their forked tongues— Deaf to threats, deaf to charm, decades of wax built up in their ears.

Ecclesiastes 7:20
There's not one totally good person on earth, Not one who is truly pure and sinless.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said Jesus again unto them,.... It may be, immediately after he had said the above words; or rather some time after, it may be on the same day:

I go my way; meaning, the way of all flesh, or that he should die: the way of speaking shows, that his death was certain, a determined thing; which must be, and yet was voluntary: he was not driven, nor forced, but went freely; this being the path, the way, through which he must enter into his kingdom and glory:

and ye shall seek me; that is, shall seek the Messiah, as their deliverer and Saviour, when in distress; and whom he calls himself, because he was the true Messiah, and the only Saviour and Redeemer of his people, in a spiritual sense; otherwise they would not, nor did they seek Jesus of Nazareth:

and shall die in your sins; or "in your sin"; so it is in the Greek text, and in the Vulgate Latin, and Persic versions: meaning, in their sin of unbelief, and rejection of him the true Messiah: the sense is, that in the midst of their calamities, which should come upon them, for their sin against him, they should in vain seek for the Messiah, as a temporal deliverer of them; for their nation, city, and temple, and they therein should utterly perish, for their iniquity; and their ruin would not only be temporal, but eternal: since it follows,

whither I, go ye cannot come, signifying, that whereas he was going to his Father, to heaven and glory; to enjoy eternal happiness at his Father's right hand, in the human nature; they should never come there, but whilst many sat down in the kingdom of heaven, with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who should come from afar, they would be shut out, and not suffered to enter in.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I go my way - See the notes at John 7:33.

Ye shall die in your sins - That is, you will seek the Messiah; you will desire his coming, but the Messiah that you expect will not come; and, as you have rejected me, and there is no other Saviour, you must die in your sins. You will die unpardoned, and as you did not seek me where you might find me, you cannot come where I shall be. Observe:

1. All those who reject the Lord Jesus must die unforgiven. There is no way of pardon but by him. See the notes at Acts 4:12.
2. There will be a time when sinners will seek for a Saviour but will find none. Often this is done too late, in a dying moment, and in the future world they may seek a deliverer, but not be able to find one.
3. Those who reject the Lord Jesus must perish. Where he is they cannot come. Where he is is heaven. Where he is not, with his favor and mercy, there is hell; and the sinner that has no Savior must be wretched forever.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 8:21. Then said Jesus again unto them — He had said the same things to them the day before. See John 7:34.

Ye shall seek me — When your calamities come upon you, ye shall in vain seek for the help of the Messiah, whom ye now reject, and whom ye shall shortly crucify.