John 8:4

4 they said to him, testing [him], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery!

John 8:4 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:4

They say unto him, Master
They applied to him in a handsome and respectful manner, the better to cover their ill design:

this woman was taken in adultery;
by two persons at least, who could be witnesses of it; otherwise the accusation was not legal; see ( Deuteronomy 19:15 ) ; though in the case of a wife suspected of adultery, they admitted a single witness as valid ^F6:

in the very act;
or "in the theft itself", for adultery is a theft; it is an unlawful use of another's property; see this word used in the same sense, in Heliodor, l. 1. sect. 11.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Maimon. Hilchot Eduth, c. 5. sect. 2.

John 8:4 In-Context

2 Now early in the morning he came again to the temple [courts]. And all the people were coming, and he sat down [and] began to teach them.

3 Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And standing her in [their] midst,

4 they said to him, testing [him], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery!

5 Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

6 (Now they were saying this to test him, so that they would have [an occasion] to bring charges against him.) But Jesus, bending down, began to write with [his] finger on the ground, taking no notice.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts omit "testing [him]"