¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,”^(A) Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”^{(B) 20} He spoke these words while teaching^(C) in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put.^(D) Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.^(E)

Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die^(F) in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”^(G)

²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.^{(H) 24} I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he,^(I) you will indeed die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy,^(J) and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”^(K)

²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[a] the Son of Man,^(L) then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.^{(M) 29} The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,^(N) for I always do what pleases him.”^{(O) 30} Even as he spoke, many believed in him.^(P)

³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,”^(A) said Jesus, “then you would^[a] do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me,^(B) a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.^(C) Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your own father.”^(D)

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”^(E)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,^(F) for I have come here from God.^(G) I have not come on my own;^(H) God sent me.^{(I) 43} Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil,^(J) and you want to carry out your father’s desires.^(K) He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.^{(L) 45} Yet because I tell the truth,^(M) you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.^(N) The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”