John 8:39
New International Version
“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did.

New Living Translation
“Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.

English Standard Version
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,

Berean Standard Bible
“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.

Berean Literal Bible
They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus says to them, "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.

King James Bible
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

New King James Version
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

New American Standard Bible
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.

NASB 1995
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.

NASB 1977
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.

Legacy Standard Bible
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham.

Amplified Bible
They answered, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are [truly] Abraham’s children, then do the works of Abraham and follow his example.

Christian Standard Bible
“Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Our father is Abraham!” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.

American Standard Version
They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
They answered and were saying to him, “Abraham is our father.” Yeshua said to them, “If you were children of Abraham, you would have been doing the works of Abraham.”

Contemporary English Version
The people said to Jesus, "Abraham is our father!" Jesus replied, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They answered, and said to him: Abraham is our father. Jesus saith to them: If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.

English Revised Version
They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The Jews replied to Jesus, "Abraham is our father." Jesus told them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did.

Good News Translation
They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." "If you really were Abraham's children," Jesus replied, "you would do the same things that he did.

International Standard Version
They replied to him, "Our father is Abraham!" Jesus told them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did.

Literal Standard Version
They answered and said to Him, “Our father is Abraham”; Jesus says to them, “If you were children of Abraham, the works of Abraham you were doing;

Majority Standard Bible
“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.

New American Bible
They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham.

NET Bible
They answered him, "Abraham is our father!" Jesus replied, "If you are Abraham's children, you would be doing the deeds of Abraham.

New Revised Standard Version
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did,

New Heart English Bible
They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.

Webster's Bible Translation
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith to them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

Weymouth New Testament
"Our father is Abraham," they said. "If you were Abraham's children," replied Jesus, "it is Abraham's deeds that you would be doing.

World English Bible
They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

Young's Literal Translation
They answered and said to him, 'Our father is Abraham;' Jesus saith to them, 'If children of Abraham ye were, the works of Abraham ye were doing;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Children of the Devil
38I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” 39“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham. 40But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.…

Cross References
Matthew 3:9
And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

John 8:33
"We are Abraham's descendants," they answered. "We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?"

John 8:37
I know you are Abraham's descendants, but you are trying to kill Me because My word has no place within you.

John 8:43
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.

John 8:56
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad."

Romans 2:28
A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.

Romans 9:7
Nor because they are Abraham's descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, "Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned."


Treasury of Scripture

They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.

Abraham.

John 8:33
They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

If.

John 8:37
I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Matthew 3:9
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Matthew 5:45
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

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Abraham Abraham's Children Deeds Jesus Works
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Abraham Abraham's Children Deeds Jesus Works
John 8
1. Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery.
12. He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine;
31. promises freedom to those who believe;
33. answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham;
48. answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity;
59. and slips away from those who would stone him.














(39) They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.--They feel the meaning which has not yet been expressed (comp. John 8:44), and claim the descent from Abraham which He has already allowed (John 8:37).

If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.--Almost all the better MSS. read, "If ye are," for "If ye were." This must mean, "If ye are Abraham's children--but the supposition is excluded, for ye would do the works of Abraham, and this is opposed to fact." They are the physical seed of the patriarch, but they are not the ethical children, for the true child would bear the moral impress of the father which would be seen in his works. The thought of the previous verse is again present here.

The distinction between "seed" and "children" is another instance of an idea which meets us in this section, and was developed in the writings of St. Paul. (Comp. Romans 9:7 et seq.)

Verse 39. - They answered and said. If the second interpretation be accepted, then, irritated by the suggestion that "the Father" whose properties and claims he saw and revealed to them was different from "the father" whose nature and ways they "heard" and practised, and counting, moreover, on the concession of the fact that they were Abraham's "seed," they cried, Our father is Abraham; we are spiritually, ethically, related to him, and if we are doing that which we have heard from our father, then we can claim that all we are doing is along the lines of our Abrahamic dignity. But if ver. 38 be regarded as a final expostulation, according to the first of the interpretations of ποιεῖτε, then the Jews merely disclosed their determination to misapprehend the plain words of the Divine Lord, and when he was reminding them of the Father, of their Father, they at once stood back upon their hereditary pride, and declared that they were doing the works of their great ancestor. Jesus saith to them, If ye are Abraham's children, as you say - for the position of "children" is involved in the idea and claim of spiritual Fatherhood which ye boast - then, with such spiritual and ethical relations as these, ye would do the works of Abraham - works of faith; you would be open to the access of spiritual revelations with childlike simplicity; you would have accepted the heavenly voice; you would have known whence it came; you would have resembled him in his moral sensitiveness, in his gentle loving kindness, in his victorious faith; but -

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
“Abraham
Ἀβραάμ (Abraam)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 11: Abraham, progenitor of the Hebrew race. Of Hebrew origin; Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.

is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

father,”
πατὴρ (patēr)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

they replied.
Ἀπεκρίθησαν (Apekrithēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 611: From apo and krino; to conclude for oneself, i.e. to respond; by Hebraism to begin to speak.

“If
Εἰ (Ei)
Conjunction
Strong's 1487: If. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc.

you were
ἐστε (este)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

children
τέκνα (tekna)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 5043: A child, descendent, inhabitant. From the base of timoria; a child.

of Abraham,”
Ἀβραάμ (Abraam)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 11: Abraham, progenitor of the Hebrew race. Of Hebrew origin; Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.

said
Λέγει (Legei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

Jesus,
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

“you would do
ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

the
τὰ (ta)
Article - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

works
ἔργα (erga)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2041: From a primary ergo; toil; by implication, an act.

of Abraham.
Ἀβραὰμ (Abraam)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 11: Abraham, progenitor of the Hebrew race. Of Hebrew origin; Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.


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NT Gospels: John 8:39 They answered him Our father is Abraham (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 8:38
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