John 8:21–45

²¹Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and ^ayou will seek Me, and ^bwill die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

²²So ^athe Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, since He says, ‘^bWhere I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³And He was saying to them, “^aYou are from below, I am from above. ^bYou are of this world, ^cI am not of this world.

²⁴“Therefore I said to you that you ^awill die in your sins. For unless you believe that ^1bI am He, ^cyou will die in your sins.”

²⁵So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “¹What have I been saying to you from the beginning?

²⁶“I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but ^aHe who sent Me is true; and ^bthe things which I heard from Him, these I am saying to the world.”

²⁷They did not know that He had been speaking to them about the Father.

²⁸So Jesus said, “When you ^alift up the Son of Man, then you will know that ^1bI am He, and ^cI do nothing from Myself, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

²⁹“And He who sent Me is with Me; ^aHe ¹has not left Me alone, for ^bI always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

³⁰As He was speaking these things, ^amany believed in Him.

The Son Will Make You Free

³¹So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “^aIf you abide in My word, then you are truly My ^bdisciples;

³²and ^ayou will know the truth, and ^bthe truth will make you free.”

³³They answered Him, “^aWe are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aeveryone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

³⁵“^aAnd the slave does not remain in the house forever; ^bthe son does remain forever.

³⁶“So if the Son ^amakes you free, you will be free indeed.

³⁷“I know that you are ^aAbraham’s seed; yet ^byou are seeking to kill Me, because My word ¹has no place in you.

³⁸“I speak the things which I have seen ¹with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from ^ayour father.”

³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is ^aour father.” Jesus ^*said to them, “^bIf you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham.

⁴⁰“But now ^ayou are seeking to kill Me, a man who has ^btold you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do.

⁴¹“You are doing the deeds of ^ayour father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; ^bwe have one Father: God.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ^ayou would love Me, ^bfor I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have ^cnot even come of Myself, but ^1dHe sent Me.

⁴³“Why do you not understand ^1awhat I am saying? It is because you cannot ^bhear My word.

⁴⁴“^aYou are of ^byour father the devil, and ^cyou want to do the desires of your father. ^dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because ^ethere is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks ¹a lie, he ^fspeaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of ²lies.

⁴⁵“But because ^aI speak the truth, you do not believe Me.