John 8:12–30

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

¹²Jesus spoke to them again: “I am^r the light^s of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”^t

¹³So the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴“Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going.^{u 15}You judge^v by human standards.^Dw I judge no one.^{x 16}And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.^{y 17}Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.^{z 18}I am the one who testifies^aa about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”

“You know neither me nor my Father,”^ab Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”^{ac 20}He spoke these words by the treasury,^ad while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

JESUS PREDICTS HIS DEPARTURE

²¹Then he said to them again, “I’m going away;^ae you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.^af Where I’m going, you cannot come.”^ag

²²So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’^ah?”

²³“You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above.^ai You are of this world;^aj I am not of this world.^{ak 24}Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵“Who are you?” they questioned.

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. ²⁶“I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me^al is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”^am

²⁷They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man,^an then you will know that I am^ao he, and that I do nothing on my own.^ap But just as the Father taught me, I say these things. ²⁹The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone,^aq because I always do what pleases him.”

TRUTH AND FREEDOM

³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.