John 8:4

4 and sayde vnto him: Master this woman was taken in advoutry even as the dede was a doyng.

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 and erly in ye mornynge came agayne into ye temple and all the people came vnto him and he sate doune and taught them.

3 And the scribes and ye pharises brought vnto him a woman taken in advoutry and set hyr in the myddes

4 and sayde vnto him: Master this woman was taken in advoutry even as the dede was a doyng.

5 Moses in the lawe comaunded vs yt suche shuld be stoned. What sayest thou therfore?

6 And this they sayde to tempt him: that they myght have wherof to accuse him. Iesus stouped doune and with his fynger wrote on the grounde.