John 8:5

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

King James Version (1611)
Now Moses in the Law commanded vs, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

King James Version
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

English Standard Version
Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

New American Standard Bible
"Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"

New Century Version
The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?"

Amplified Bible
"Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"

Legacy Standard Bible
Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"

Berean Standard Bible
In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?"

Contemporary English Version
The Law of Moses teaches that a woman like this should be stoned to death! What do you say?"

Complete Jewish Bible
Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?"

Darby Translation
Now in the law Moses has commanded us to stone such; thou therefore, what sayest thou?

Easy-to-Read Version
The Law of Moses commands us to stone to death any such woman. What do you say we should do?"

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now Moses in our Law commanded, that such should be stoned: what sayest thou therefore?

George Lamsa Translation
Now in the law of Moses it is commanded that women such as these should be stoned; but what do you say?

Good News Translation
In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?"

Lexham English Bible
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

Literal Translation
And in the Law, Moses commanded that such should be stoned. You, then, what do You say?

American Standard Version
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her?

Bible in Basic English
Now in the law Moses gave directions that such women were to be stoned; what do you say about it?

Hebrew Names Version
Now in our law, Moshe commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?"

International Standard Version
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women to death. What do you say?"Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22;">[xr]

Murdock Translation
And in the law of Moses, [fn] hath commanded us to stone such persons. What therefore dost thou say?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Moyses in the lawe commaunded vs that suche shoulde be stoned: But what sayest thou?

English Revised Version
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her?

World English Bible
Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?"

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now Moses hath commanded us in the law, to stoee such.

Weymouth's New Testament
Now, in the Law, Moses has ordered us to stone such women to death. But what do you say?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And in the lawe Moises comaundide vs to stoone suche; therfor what seist thou?

Webster's Bible Translation
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?

New English Translation
In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?"

New King James Version
Now Moses, in the law, commanded [fn] us that such should be stoned. [fn] But what do You say?" [fn]

New Living Translation
The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"

New Life Bible
Moses told us in the Law to throw stones and kill a woman like this. What do You say about it?"

New Revised Standard
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest thou?

Revised Standard Version
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Moses in the lawe comaunded vs yt suche shuld be stoned. What sayest thou therfore?

Young's Literal Translation
and in the law, Moses did command us that such be stoned; thou, therefore, what dost thou say?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Moses in the lawe commaunded vs to stone soch. What sayest thou?

Mace New Testament (1729)
now Moses has ordain'd in the law, that such criminals should be stoned: but what is your opinion?

Simplified Cowboy Version
The code of Moses says to kill her with stones. What say you?"

Contextual Overview

¹Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. ³The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin." Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in." The Pharisees objected, "All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on." Jesus replied, "You're right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I've come from and where I go next. You don't know where I'm from or where I'm headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God's Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me." They said, "Where is this so-called Father of yours?" Jesus said, "You're looking right at me and you don't see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father." He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn't yet up. 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." The Jews said, "So, is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by ‘You can't come with me'?" Jesus 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." They 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." They 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." When he put it in these terms, many people decided to believe. Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." Surprised, they said, "But we're descendants of Abraham. We've never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘The truth will free you'?" Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. I know you are Abraham's descendants. But I also know that you are trying to kill me because my message hasn't yet penetrated your thick skulls. I'm talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father." They were indignant. "Our father is Abraham!" Jesus said, "If you were Abraham's children, you would have been doing the things Abraham did. And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. You persist in repeating the works of your father." They said, "We're not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God." "If God were your father," said Jesus, "you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn't come on my own. He sent me. Why can't you understand one word I say? Here's why: You can't handle it. You're from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn't stand the truth because there wasn't a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me? Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening—because you're not on God's side." The Jews then said, "That clinches it. We were right all along when we called you a Samaritan and said you were crazy—demon-possessed!" Jesus said, "I'm not crazy. I simply honor my Father, while you dishonor me. I am not trying to get anything for myself. God intends something gloriously grand here and is making the decisions that will bring it about. I say this with absolute confidence. If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to look death in the face." At this point the Jews said, "Now we know you're crazy. Abraham died. The prophets died. And you show up saying, ‘If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to face death, not even a taste.' Are you greater than Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you think you are!" Jesus said, "If I turned the spotlight on myself, it wouldn't amount to anything. But my Father, the same One you say is your Father, put me here at this time and place of splendor. You haven't recognized him in this. But I have. If I, in false modesty, said I didn't know what was going on, I would be as much of a liar as you are. But I do know, and I am doing what he says. Abraham—your ‘father'—with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered." The Jews said, "You're not even fifty years old—and Abraham saw you?" "Believe me," said Jesus, "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything." That did it—pushed them over the edge. They picked up rocks to throw at him. But Jesus slipped away, getting out of the Temple. ⁷To Throw the Stone Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin." Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in." The Pharisees objected, "All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on." Jesus replied, "You're right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I've come from and where I go next. You don't know where I'm from or where I'm headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God's Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me." They said, "Where is this so-called Father of yours?" Jesus said, "You're looking right at me and you don't see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father." He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn't yet up. 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." The Jews said, "So, is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by ‘You can't come with me'?" Jesus 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." They 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." They 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." When he put it in these terms, many people decided to believe. Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." Surprised, they said, "But we're descendants of Abraham. We've never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘The truth will free you'?" Jesus said, "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. I know you are Abraham's descendants. But I also know that you are trying to kill me because my message hasn't yet penetrated your thick skulls. I'm talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father." They were indignant. "Our father is Abraham!" Jesus said, "If you were Abraham's children, you would have been doing the things Abraham did. And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. You persist in repeating the works of your father." They said, "We're not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God." "If God were your father," said Jesus, "you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn't come on my own. He sent me. Why can't you understand one word I say? Here's why: You can't handle it. You're from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn't stand the truth because there wasn't a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me? Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening—because you're not on God's side." The Jews then said, "That clinches it. We were right all along when we called you a Samaritan and said you were crazy—demon-possessed!" Jesus said, "I'm not crazy. I simply honor my Father, while you dishonor me. I am not trying to get anything for myself. God intends something gloriously grand here and is making the decisions that will bring it about. I say this with absolute confidence. If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to look death in the face." At this point the Jews said, "Now we know you're crazy. Abraham died. The prophets died. And you show up saying, ‘If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to face death, not even a taste.' Are you greater than Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you think you are!" Jesus said, "If I turned the spotlight on myself, it wouldn't amount to anything. But my Father, the same One you say is your Father, put me here at this time and place of splendor. You haven't recognized him in this. But I have. If I, in false modesty, said I didn't know what was going on, I would be as much of a liar as you are. But I do know, and I am doing what he says. Abraham—your ‘father'—with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered." The Jews said, "You're not even fifty years old—and Abraham saw you?" "Believe me," said Jesus, "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything." That did it—pushed them over the edge. They picked up rocks to throw at him. But Jesus slipped away, getting out of the Temple. ⁸To Throw the Stone Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. ⁹Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" ¹¹ "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Moses: Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:21-24, Ezekiel 16:38-40, Ezekiel 23:47

but: Matthew 5:17, Matthew 19:6-8, Matthew 22:16-18

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 22:22 - General Judges 19:3 - speak Ezekiel 16:40 - shall also Matthew 1:19 - a public John 5:45 - there John 8:59 - took

Cross-References

Genesis 7:11
It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should, be stoned,.... Not in Leviticus 20:10; for though according to the law there, an adulteress, one that was a married woman, and so an adulterer, that was a married man, were to be put to death; yet the death was not stoning, but strangling; for it is a rule with the Jews g, that where death is simply mentioned (without restraining it to any particular kind) strangling is intended, and which rule they apply to this law: and accordingly in their Misna, or oral law, one that lies with another man's wife, is reckoned among those that are to be strangled h: Kimchi indeed says i, that adulteresses, according to the law, are to be stoned with stones; but then this must be understood of such as are betrothed, but not married; and such a person, Moses has commanded in the law, to be stoned,

Deuteronomy 22:23. And with this agree the traditions of the Jews k;

"a daughter of Israel must be stoned, who is ולא נשואה

ארוסה, "betrothed, but not married".''

And such an one we must believe this woman was; she was betrothed to a man, but not married to him, and therefore to be stoned: the Jews l have also a saying, that

"if all adulterers were punished with stoning, according to the law, the stones would be consumed; but they would not be consumed;''

adultery was so common with that people:

but what sayest thou? dost thou agree with Moses, or not?

g Maimon. Hilchot Issure Bia, c. 1. sect. 6. h Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 1. i In Ezek. xvi. 40. k T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 51. 2. l Apud Castell. Lex. Polyglott, col. 2180.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Moses in the law ... - The punishment of adultery commanded by Moses was death, Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22. The particular manner of the death was not specified in the law. The Jews had themselves, in the time of Christ, determined that it should be by stoning. See this described in the notes at Matthew 21:35, Matthew 21:44. The punishment for adultery varied. In some cases it was strangling. In the time of Ezekiel Ezekiel 16:38-40 it was stoning and being thrust through with a sword. If the adulteress was the daughter of a priest, the punishment was being burned to death.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 8:5. That such should be stoned — It is not strictly true that Moses ordered adultery in general to be punished by stoning. The law simply says that the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22. The rabbins say they were strangled. This they affirm was the ordinary mode of punishment, where the species of death was not marked in the law, If the person guilty of an act of this kind had been betrothed, but not married, she was to be stoned: Deuteronomy 22:23. But if she was the daughter of a priest, she was to be burned alive: Leviticus 16:9. It appears, from Ezekiel 16:38, Ezekiel 16:40, that adulteresses in the time of that prophet were stoned, and pierced with a sword.

Selden and Fagius suppose that this woman's case was the same with that mentioned, Deuteronomy 22:23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall stone them with stones that they die, the damsel because she cried not, and the man because he hath humbled his neighbours wife. As the Pharisees spoke of stoning the woman, it is possible this was her case; and some suppose that the apparent indulgence with which our Lord treated her insinuates that she had suffered some sort of violence, though not entirely innocent. Therefore he said, I do not condemn thee, i.e. to death, because violence had been used. Sin no more. Nevertheless thou art in certain respects guilty; thou mightest have made more resistance.