John 8:4

4 they say to him, `Teacher, this woman was taken in the very crime -- 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

John 8:4 In-Context

2 and all the people were coming unto him, and having sat down, he was teaching them;

3 and the scribes and the Pharisees bring unto him a woman having been taken in adultery, and having set her in the midst,

4 they say to him, `Teacher, this woman was taken in the very crime -- committing adultery,

5 and in the law, Moses did command us that such be stoned; thou, therefore, what dost thou say?'

6 and this they said, trying him, that they might have to accuse him. And Jesus, having stooped down, with the finger he was writing on the ground,