John 8:4

4 They said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught having sexual relations with a man who is not her husband.

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 But early in the morning he went back to the Temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat and taught them.

3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They forced her to stand before the people.

4 They said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught having sexual relations with a man who is not her husband.

5 The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?"

6 They were asking this to trick Jesus so that they could have some charge against him. But Jesus bent over and started writing on the ground with his finger.