Paragraph 8:10–11

Jesus allowed the sinful woman to go in peace. He told her that he did not condemn her and that she should stop sinning.

8:10a

Then Jesus straightened up: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible has translated as straightened up here indicates that Jesus stood up and faced the woman. It is a participle form of the word used in 8:7b. It is recommended that you use a form of the word you used in that verse. For example:

Jesus stood up (Contemporary English Version)

8:10b

Woman: Jesus addressed the sinful woman with a word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Woman. This was a common and polite way to address an adult female. See also the note on 2:4a, where Jesus used the same word to address his mother. In some languages such a form of address may not be natural or polite. In those languages there are two other ways you could translate this word:

• Use another polite form of address. For example:

ma’am
-or-
sister

• Do not translate this word but leave it implicit. Several English translations have done this. For example:

Jesus stood up and asked her, “Where is everyone…?” (Contemporary English Version)

Translate this word in a way that is most natural in your language.

where are your accusers?: Jesus asked the woman where the men who accused her were. Jesus and the woman both knew the answer, that they had left. So in a sense this is a rhetorical question. Jesus was commenting on the fact that the men who accused her had all left. There are two ways to translate this question:

• Use a rhetorical question. For example:

Where is everyone? (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a statement. For example:

They have gone away.
-or-
They have all left.

8:10c

Has no one condemned you?: This is another rhetorical question. Jesus commented on something that they could both see, that none of the woman’s accusers had remained to condemn her. But because Jesus expected and received an answer, it is good to translate it as a question. For example:

Didn’t even one of them condemn you? (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Is there no one left to condemn you? (Good News Translation)

condemned: The verb condemned here means “decided that a person is guilty and must receive punishment.” Here the punishment would be death. No one remained to say that the woman must die.

you: The pronoun you refers to the woman and is therefore singular and feminine.

General Comment on 8:10a–c

The Berean Standard Bible has placed the speech introducer “said to her” before the quotation itself. In some languages it may be natural to place it in the middle of the quotation. For example:

Jesus stood up. “Woman, where are they?” he asked. “Is there no one to condemn you?”

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