YHN 8:2 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:53–8:11: Jesus protected a woman who committed adultery

The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient documents do not contain this section, John 7:53–8:11. Some English translations, including the GNT, put it in brackets or parentheses. Others, including the NIV, put it in the text. However, they also say that it is almost certainly not part of the original text of John. Yet the passage is very old and may well contain a real narrative of an event in Jesus’ life.

All English translations include it in some way. So you should also include this section so that readers can learn it and refer to it. In addition to the above ways to include it, you can also put it in a footnote.

In this passage, some scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught committing adultery. They said that the law commanded them to stone an adulterer to death and asked Jesus about it. Jesus said that the person who had no sin should throw the first stone. They all left except the woman, and Jesus told her that he did not condemn her and to not sin again.

Here are other possible section titles:

Jesus saved/defended a sinful woman

Jesus refused to condemn a sinful woman

A woman adulterer received forgiveness

Paragraph 7:53–8:2

This paragraph explains the setting of what happened next and introduces the next event in the story. It tells what Jesus did when his opponents tried to cause trouble for him.

8:2a

Early in the morning He went back into the temple courts.

In the early morning he came/went back to the temple,
He returned to the temple area/courts at dawn.

Early in the morning: The phrase Early in the morning is more literally “At dawn” and refers to the time when the sun rises .

He went back into the temple courts: The pronoun He refers to Jesus. Jesus returned to the temple in Jerusalem, where he was the day before (see 7:14a). Here is another way to translate this clause:

he went back to the Temple (GNT)

the temple courts: This phrase here refers to an open area or courtyard that surrounded the temple building. See the note on 2:14a, where the same Greek word is used.

8:2b

All the people came to Him,

and many people went to him.
A crowd gathered near him,

All the people came to Him: This clause indicates that many people approached Jesus. They wanted to be near him to listen to his teaching. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Everyone there gathered around him.

A crowd soon gathered. (NLT)

8:2c

and He sat down to teach them.

He sat down and started to teach them.
and/so he sat down to teach the people.

and: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as and here introduces what Jesus did as a result of what people did in 8:2b. In some languages it may be natural to use a word that makes the idea of result more explicit. For example:

So (GW)

and then

He sat down to teach them: The Greek verb that BSB translates as He sat down indicates that Jesus was getting ready to teach. The Jews in Jesus’ day normally sat down to teach or preach. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

he sat down and started teaching them (GNT)

he sat and taught them (NCV)

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.