John 8:12–38

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹²Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “^aI am the Light of the world; ^bhe who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “^aYou are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not ¹true.”

¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “^aEven if I testify about Myself, My testimony is ¹true, for I know ^bwhere I came from and where I am going; but ^cyou do not know where I come from or where I am going.

¹⁵“^aYou judge ¹according to the flesh; ^bI am not judging anyone.

¹⁶“But even ^aif I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.

¹⁷“Even in ^ayour law it has been written that the testimony of ^btwo men is ¹true.

¹⁸“I am He who testifies about Myself, and ^athe Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

¹⁹So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; ^aif you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

²⁰These words He spoke in ^athe treasury, as ^bHe taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because ^cHis hour had not yet come.

²¹Then He said again to them, “I go 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, will He, 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, you 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 speak and to judge concerning you, but ^aHe who sent Me is true; and ^bthe things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”

²⁷They did not realize 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 on My own initiative, 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 spoke these things, ^amany came to believe in Him.

The Truth Will Make You Free

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

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

³³They answered Him, “^aWe are Abraham’s descendants 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“^aThe 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 descendants; yet ^byou seek 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.”