John 8:39-41

8:39 They answered him, ¹  “Abraham is our father!” ²  Jesus replied, ³  “If you are ⁴  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ⁵  the deeds of Abraham. 8:40 But now you are trying ⁶  to kill me, a man who has told you ⁷  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ⁸  8:41 You people ⁹  are doing the deeds of your father.”

Then ¹⁰  they said to Jesus, ¹¹  “We were not born as a result of immorality! ¹²  We have only one Father, God himself.”

[8:39]  ¹ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ² tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ³ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ⁴ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ⁵ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:40]  ⁶ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ⁷ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ⁸ tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[8:41]  ⁹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[8:41]  ¹⁰ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א B L W 070 it sy^s,p co) lack the conjunction here, while the earliest witnesses along with many others read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì^66,75 C D Θ Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the combined testimony of two early papyri for the conjunction is impressive, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 52). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:41]  ¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:41]  ¹² sn We were not born as a result of immorality! is ironic, because Jesus’ opponents implied that it was not themselves but Jesus who had been born as a result of immoral behavior. This shows they did not know Jesus’ true origin and were not aware of the supernatural events surrounding his birth. The author does not even bother to refute the opponents’ suggestion but lets it stand, assuming his readers will know the true story.