The first eleven verses in chapter 8 are usually grouped with a previous verse,
John 7:53, to form a passage known as "
Pericope adulterae" or "
Pericope de Adultera". It is considered canonical, but not found in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the
New Testament (such as
P,
P,
Codex Sinaiticus,
Codex Vaticanus) and some old translations. Most manuscripts that contain the text place it after
John 7:52, probably because of the words 'neither do I condemn you' in , which are comparable to . Some manuscripts place it after , , or , whereas a group of manuscripts known as the "Ferrar group" place it after
Luke 21:38. The style of the story may be compared with Luke 7:36–50, and could be called a 'biographical apophthegm', in which a saying of Jesus may have been developed into the story of a woman caught in adultery. Here, as in the
Synoptic Gospels, Jesus does not reject the law directly but criticizes those who 'apply it mechanically', for the law should be interpreted 'in the light of God's mercy for sinners'.
Narrative At the end of the
Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus goes overnight to the
Mount of Olives (
John 8:1), "lodging probably in the house of
Lazarus", according to the
Expositor's Greek Testament, whilst everyone else "goes home" (
John 7:53). This is the only mention of the
Mount of Olives in John's Gospel, although the area is also referred to in , "Jesus crossed the
Kidron Valley with his
disciples and entered a grove of
olive trees".
Verse 1 , viewed eastward from
Jerusalem () :
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. The
Mount of Olives is a hill running north to south about long, directly east of
Jerusalem across the
Kidron Valley; named for the large number of
olive trees that grew on it. Luke 21 records a summary of Jesus' practice when he ministered in Jerusalem prior to his passion: :
37 And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Similarly, in verse 2 here, Jesus returns to the
Temple early the next morning.
Verse 7 :
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ::
"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." • "He raised Himself up": or "He looked up" • "Let him thrown a stone at her first" (
KJV: "let him first cast a stone at her"): that is, as a witness to the sinful deed, one can first cast a stone at the guilty party, according to the law in which commands that "the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people".
Verse 11 :
She said, "No one, Lord." :
And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." • "Go and": after these words, NU and M versions have "from now on".
Authenticity There is dispute over the authenticity of the passage, although many scholars conclude that it does record an actual event. It appears in the
King James Version but modern
English translations note that it is not present in the 'most reliable early manuscripts' of John, and therefore suggest that it is unlikely to have been part of the original text. H. W. Watkins notes that the Jewish "scribes" (verse 3) are not referred to elsewhere in this Gospel.
Papias (circa AD 125) refers to a story of Jesus and a woman "accused of many sins" as being found in the
Gospel of the Hebrews, which may refer to this passage (as cited in Eusebius, H.E 3.39.17). There is a very certain quotation of the
pericope adulterae in the 3rd-century Syriac
Didascalia Apostolorum 8.2, though without indicating John's Gospel. The
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book II.24 refers to the passage "And when the elders had set another woman who had sinned before Him, and had left the sentence to Him, and were gone out, our Lord, the Searcher of the hearts, inquiring of her whether the elders had condemned her, and being answered No, He said unto her: 'Go thy way therefore, for neither do I condemn thee. Book II is generally dated to the late third century (Von Drey, Krabbe, Bunsen, Funk).
Codex Fuldensis, which is positively dated to AD 546 contains the adulterae pericope. The Second Epistle of Pope Callistus section 6 contains a quote that may be from : "Let him see to it that he sin no more, that the sentence of the Gospel may abide in him: 'Go, and sin no more. However the epistle quotes from eighth-century writings and is not thought to be genuine. Almost all modern translations now include the
Pericope de Adultera at
John 7:53-
8:11, but some enclose it in brackets or add a note concerning the oldest and most reliable witnesses. Commentators like discuss its contents separately from their consideration of the rest of this chapter. ==Jesus the Light of the World (verses 12–30)==