John 8:39-47

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus and Abraham

³⁹ They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do^[a] what Abraham did,^{(A) 40} but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God himself.”^{(B) 42} Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.^{(C) 43} Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. ⁴⁴ You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.^{(D) 45} But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.^{[b] 46} Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”^(E)