John 8:4

4 Then they said to him, "Rabbi, 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 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.

3 The Torah-teachers and the P'rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group.

4 Then they said to him, "Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.

5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?"

6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger.