1 Jesus went to the hill called Olive Trees Hill.

2 Early in the morning, he went back to God’s ceremony house in Jerusalem. All the people there went to him, so he sat down and started to teach them.

3-6 Some Jewish law teachers, and some of the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law, they brought a woman to Jesus, and they told him that she did something really bad. She slept with a man that was not her husband, and she did with him what married people do together. Those men wanted to trick Jesus. They wanted Jesus to say something bad about their law so that they could take Jesus to court and get the judge to punish him. So they made the woman stand in front of everyone, and they asked Jesus a trick question. They said, “Teacher, we caught this woman sleeping with a man that is not her husband, and they were doing what married people do together. In our law, Moses said that we have to throw big stones at her to kill her dead. But what do you reckon we have to do to her?”

But Jesus didn’t answer them. He got down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 Those men kept on asking the same question. So Jesus stood up and said to them, “Have any of you never done anything wrong? That man can go first. He can throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then Jesus got down again and wrote on the ground.

9 Those men heard his words, and then the oldest man turned around and walked away. Then the next oldest man went away too, and the other men followed one by one. Soon they were all gone, and the woman was the only one standing in front of Jesus.

10 Jesus stood up and said to the woman, “Where are the men that blamed you? Did any of them say they have to punish you?”

11 The woman said, “None of them, sir.”

Jesus said, “And I will not say that anyone has to punish you either. Go home, and, from now on, stop doing bad things.”

12 Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am like a light for all the people in the world. Anyone that follows me will not live the wrong way, as if they are in the dark, but I will show them how to live the right way, like a light shows people the way, and they will live with God for ever.”* Matthew 5:14; John 9:5

13 But the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law, they said to Jesus, “You are the only one that is telling this story about yourself. Nobody else is telling the same story, so we can’t agree with you. What you say is not true.”* John 5:31

14 Jesus said, “Even if I do tell this story about myself, my story is true. You see, you don’t know where I came from, and you don’t know where I am going. But I do know where I came from, and I know where I am going. 15 You judge people the way human beings judge people. I am not judging anyone now, 16 but if I do judge somebody, I judge them the right way. You see, I don’t judge by myself. My father sent me here, and we judge people together.

17 In your Jewish law, it says that if 2 people tell the same story, then that shows that their story is true.* Deuteronomy 19:15 18 All right, I am one person, and my father is the other one. He is the one that sent me to the world. We both tell you the same story about me. And you reckon you follow your law, so you have to believe me.”

19 So then the Pharisee mob asked Jesus, “Where is your father?”

Jesus said, “You don’t know me, and you don’t know my father. If somebody knows me, they will know my father too.”

20 Jesus said all this while he was teaching in God’s ceremony house, near the money box. The people used to put money into that box to give it to God. The Pharisee mob wanted to grab him and kill him, but it was not the right time yet for him to die, so God stopped them, and nobody touched him.

21 Jesus talked to them again. He said, “I am going away. You will look for me, but you will not find me. You can’t go to the place that I am going to. And after you die, you will still be guilty of all the bad things you did, so God will punish you.”

22 The Jewish leaders didn’t understand what he said. They asked each other, “Why did he say that we can’t go to the place where he is going? Is he going to kill himself?”

23 So Jesus said, “You are from this world, and you belong down here. But I don’t belong to this world. I came from heaven, and I belong up there. 24 Listen, I am the special man that God sent. But you don’t believe that, so after you die, God will punish you for all the bad things you did. I told you that already.”

25 So the Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “Who do you reckon you are?”

Jesus said, “I told you who I am, right from the start. 26 I can say a lot about you, and I can even judge you. But I will not do that now. You see, right now I am telling people what I heard from the one that sent me to the world. And you can trust his words. They are true.”

27 The people listening to Jesus didn’t understand that he was talking about his father in heaven.

28 So he said, “I am the special man from heaven, and after you put me on a cross and lift me up, you will know who I am. And you will understand that I am not working alone. I only say what my father taught me. 29 He is the one that sent me, and he is with me. He doesn’t leave me, because I always do things that make him happy.”

30 A big mob of people were listening to Jesus at that time, and a lot of them believed in him.

31 Jesus talked to the Jewish people that believed in him. He said, “If you keep on following me, and if you do the things I teach you, then you will be my proper followers, 32 and you will know the true message. And if you listen to that true message, you will be free.”

33 The Jewish leaders said to Jesus, “We belong to Abraham’s family, so we are God’s special people. We never had to work for somebody for no pay, like a slave. You know, slaves are workers that belong to their boss. They always have to do what their boss tells them to do, and their boss never pays them. But we are not like that. We belong to Abraham’s family, so we are already free. You can’t tell us that we will be free.”* Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8

34 Jesus said, “Listen, this is the true story. You go against God and do bad things, and everyone that does bad things is like a slave. You can’t stop doing those bad things, so they are your boss.

35 You know, slaves don’t belong to their boss’s family for ever. But the boss’s son belongs to the family for ever. 36 And the boss’s son can let slaves go free. If he does that, they are not slaves any more. Well, God is the biggest boss, and I am his son. And I can make you properly free, so that you can stop doing bad things.

37 I know that you all reckon you belong to Abraham’s family. But you don’t like my message, so you want to kill me. 38 I am only telling you the things I saw, and the things I heard, while I was with my father. But you listen to your father, and you do anything he wants you to do.”

39 The Jewish leaders said to him, “Look, we belong to Abraham’s family. He is our grand-father that lived a long time ago.”

Jesus said, “You reckon you are in Abraham’s family, but you are not. Everyone that is really in Abraham’s family does good things like Abraham did. 40 I am telling you the true message I heard from God, and you are trying to kill me. You are nothing like Abraham. He never did bad things like that. 41 Listen, you are doing the things that your father does.”

But they said, “God is our father. He is the only father we have, and we are his proper kids.”

42 Jesus said to them, “No. God is not your father. You see, God sent me here. It wasn’t my idea to come here, God sent me. But you don’t love me. So I know that God is not your father. 43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you don’t want to do what I say. That is the reason why you don’t listen to me.

44 So, really, your father is the devil, the boss over the bad spirits, and you do anything he wants you to do. He was always a murderer and a liar, and nothing he says is true. Whenever he tells lies, he is just doing what he likes to do. All lies come from him. It is like he is the father of all lies. 45 But I am different. I tell you what is true. But you love lies, so you don’t believe me.

46 None of you can show that I did anything wrong. You see, everything I tell you is true. So why don’t you believe me? 47 The people in God’s family listen properly to his words. But you are not in his family, so you don’t listen to him.”

48 The Jewish leaders told him, “Hey, you are wrong. We always reckoned that you are a rubbish man from Samaria, and you’ve got a bad spirit inside you. And we are right.”

49 Jesus said, “No. I haven’t got a bad spirit in me. I respect my father, but you don’t respect me. 50 I’m not trying to get people to say that I am great. But there is somebody else that wants people to say that I am great, and he judges what people say too. Yes, God will show everyone that what I say is right. 51 Listen, I am telling you straight, if anyone does what I say, they will never finish up.”

52 Then the Jewish leaders said, “Now we know for sure that you have a bad spirit in you. Think about all of our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. They all died. Our father Abraham died, and so did all the men that told people God’s messages. But you say, ‘If anyone does what I say, they will never finish up.’ You are wrong. 53 Are you better than our grand-father Abraham? He died. And all the men that told people God’s messages, they all died too. So, who do you think you are?”

54 Jesus said, “If I tell people that I am great, my words mean nothing. But my father is the one that tells people that I am great. And you reckon that he is your God. 55 You mob don’t know God, but I know him. That’s right. I’m not a liar, like you, I’m telling the true story. I know him, and I do what he says. 56 Think about your father, Abraham. He knew I was going to come into the world, and after he saw it happen, he was really happy.”

57 The Jewish leaders said, “Stop. You are not even 50 years old. You can’t say that you saw Abraham.”

58 Jesus said, “Listen to this, it’s true. I was alive before Abraham was born. You see, I am always alive.”

59 The Jewish leaders didn’t like Jesus saying that he is always alive. That’s the same as saying he is God. So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid from them, and then he left God’s ceremony house, and he went away.