8:52 Then135 the Judeans136 responded,137 “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon!138 Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet139 you say, ‘If anyone obeys140 my teaching,141 he will never experience142 death.’143
tc‡ Important and early witnesses (𝔓66א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; 𝔓75 D L Ψ 070 f1, 13 33 𝔐 lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (𝔓75) has the conjunction, the combination of 𝔓66א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, 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 41). 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.
136
tnGrk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG479s.v.Ἰουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).
tnGrk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG195s.v.γεύομαι 2).
143
tnGrk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.