John 7:53–8:11

⁵³Then each of them went home.

8But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²At sunrise he arrived in the temple courtyard again. All the people gathered around him there. He sat down to teach them.

³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman. She had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in front of the group. ⁴They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught having sex with a man who was not her husband. ⁵In the Law, Moses commanded us to kill such women by throwing stones at them. Now what do you say?” ⁶They were trying to trap Jesus with that question. They wanted to have a reason to bring charges against him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

⁷They kept asking him questions. So he stood up and said to them, “Has any one of you not sinned? Then you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

⁸He bent down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹Those who heard what he had said began to go away. They left one at a time, the older ones first. Soon only Jesus was left. The woman was still standing there.

¹⁰Jesus stood up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Hasn’t anyone found you guilty?”

¹¹“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then I don’t find you guilty either,” Jesus said. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”