YHN 8:7 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 8:6c–9

Jesus did not at first answer the people who asked him about the sinful woman. He bent down and wrote something in the sand. Then he said that the person who had not sinned could throw the first stone. Beginning with the oldest, each of those who accused the woman left her. They knew that they too had sinned.

8:7a

When they continued to question Him,

When the men/accusers kept asking him the same question,
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees continued to question him.

When they continued to question Him: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as When they continued to question Him is more literally “but as they remained asking questions.” It indicates that the religious leaders continued to ask Jesus what his opinion was. Even though Jesus seemed to ignore them, they did not go away.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

When they continued to ask Jesus their question (NCV)

They kept on asking Jesus about the woman (CEV)

8:7b

He straightened up and said to them,

he straightened himself and said to them,
Finally/Eventually Jesus stood up and replied,

He straightened up: The Greek word that the BSB translates as He straightened up probably indicates that Jesus stood up from his bent over position. It is the opposite of the word translated as “bent down” in 8:6c.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

he stood up (RSV)

and said to them: The words and said to them introduce a direct quotation of Jesus’ words to the religious leaders. In some languages it may be more natural to start a new sentence here. For example:

He said/replied to them

8:7c–d

Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as Let…cast is a command in the third person. Jesus did not directly answer the question he had been asked. Instead, he said that someone who had never sinned should be the one to begin to punish the woman.

Here are other ways to translate this sentence:

If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. (NIV)

“If any of you have never sinned, you may throw the first stone at her!”

8:7c

“Let him who is without sin among you

“If any of you^(plur) has not sinned,
“Anybody among you^(plur) who has never sinned
“If one of you^(plur) has never done wrong,

him who is without sin among you: Jesus challenged the woman’s accusers to consider their own lives. He did not say that some of them were actually sinless. He expected that all the accusers would realize that they were sinful. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

anyone here who has never sinned (NCV)

whichever of you is free from sin (REB)

8:7d

be the first to cast a stone at her.”

you^(sing) throw a stone at her first.”
should be the first person to throw a stone at her.”
you^(sing)/he may throw the first stone.”

be the first to cast a stone at her: The clause that the BSB translates as be the first to cast a stone at her means “let him throw a stone at her first.” In some languages it may be natural to translate this with a verb phrase. For example:

may throw the first stone at her (GNT)

at her: The pronoun her refers to the woman. In some languages it is more natural to make this explicit. For example:

at this woman

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.

OET interlinear YHN (JHN) 8:7

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)