John 8:21–45

²¹Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and ^wyou will seek Me, and ^xwill die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

²²So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” ²³And He said to them, ^y“You are from beneath; I am from above. ^zYou are of this world; I am not of this world. ^24aTherefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; ^bfor if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”

And Jesus said to them, “Just what I ^chave been saying to you from the beginning. ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but ^dHe who sent Me is true; and ^eI speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”

²⁷They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.

²⁸Then Jesus said to them, “When you ^flift ⁴up the Son of Man, ^gthen you will know that I am He, and ^hthat I do nothing of Myself; but ⁱas My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹And ^jHe who sent Me is with Me. ^kThe Father has not left Me alone, ^lfor I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰As He spoke these words, ^mmany believed in Him.

³¹Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you ⁿabide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³²And you shall know the ^otruth, and ^pthe truth shall make you free.”

³³They answered Him, ^q“We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^rwhoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵And ^sa slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. ^36tTherefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

³⁷“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but ^uyou seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ^38vI speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have ⁵seen with your father.”

³⁹They answered and said to Him, ^w“Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, ^x“If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. ^40yBut now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth ^zwhich I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. ⁴¹You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; ^awe have one Father—God.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, ^b“If God were your Father, you would love Me, for ^cI proceeded forth and came from God; ^dnor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. ^43eWhy do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. ^44fYou are of your father the devil, and the ^gdesires of your father you want to ^hdo. He was a murderer from the beginning, and ⁱdoes not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. ⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.