John 8:58–59

Footnotes

1. 158 Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
2. 159 Grk “before Abraham was.”
3. 160 I am! is an explicit claim to deity. Although each occurrence of the phrase “I am” in the Fourth Gospel needs to be examined individually in context to see if an association with Exod 3:14 is present, it seems clear that this is the case here (as the response of the Jewish authorities in the following verse shows).
4. 161 Grk “they took up.”
5. 162 Jesus’ Jewish listeners understood his claim to deity, rejected it, and picked up stones to throw at him for what they considered blasphemy.
6. 163 Most later witnesses (A Θc f1, 13 𝔐) have at the end of the verse “passing through their midst, he went away in this manner” (διελθὼν διὰ μέσου καὶ παρῆγεν οὕτως, dielthōn dia mesou kai parēgen houtōs), while many others have similar permutations (so א1, 2 C L N Ψ 070 33 579 892 1241 ). The wording is similar to two other texts: Luke 4:30 (διελθὼν διὰ μέσου; in several αὐτῶν ἐπορεύετο καί [autōn eporeueto kai] is found between this phrase and παρῆγεν, strengthening the parallel with Luke 4:30) and John 9:1 (παρῆγεν; cf. παράγων [paragōn] there). The effect is to signal Jesus’ departure as a miraculous cloaking. As such, the additional statement has all the earmarks of scribal amplification. Further, the best and earliest witnesses (𝔓66, 75 א* B D W Θ* lat sa) lack these words, rendering the shorter text virtually certain. Grk “from the temple.”