John 8:51
New International Version
Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”

New Living Translation
I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

English Standard Version
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Berean Standard Bible
Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

Berean Literal Bible
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death, to the age."

King James Bible
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

New King James Version
Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

New American Standard Bible
Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone follows My word, he will never see death.”

NASB 1995
“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”

NASB 1977
“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death—ever.”

Amplified Bible
I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if anyone keeps My word [by living in accordance with My message] he will indeed never, ever see and experience death.”

Christian Standard Bible
Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I assure you: If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death—ever!”

American Standard Version
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“Timeless truth I speak to you: whoever keeps my word shall never see death.”

Contemporary English Version
I tell you for certain that if you obey my words, you will never die."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Amen, amen I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever.

English Revised Version
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I can guarantee this truth: Whoever obeys what I say will never see death."

Good News Translation
I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die."

International Standard Version
Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

Literal Standard Version
truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone may keep My word, he may not see death—throughout the age.”

Majority Standard Bible
Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

New American Bible
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

NET Bible
I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my teaching, he will never see death."

New Revised Standard Version
Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

New Heart English Bible
Truly, truly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death."

Webster's Bible Translation
Verily, verily, I say to you, If a man shall keep my saying, he shall never see death.

Weymouth New Testament
In most solemn truth I tell you that if any one shall have obeyed my teaching he shall in no case ever see death."

World English Bible
Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Young's Literal Translation
verily, verily, I say to you, If any one may keep my word, death he may not see -- to the age.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Before Abraham was Born, I Am
50I do not seek My own glory. There is One who seeks it, and He is the Judge. 51Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” 52“Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.…

Cross References
Matthew 16:28
Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Luke 2:26
The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

John 8:52
"Now we know that You have a demon!" declared the Jews. "Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.

John 8:55
You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

John 11:26
And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

John 15:20
Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.


Treasury of Scripture

Truly, truly, I say to you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

If.

John 3:15,16
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life…

John 5:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 6:50
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

keep.

John 8:55
Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

John 15:20
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

see.

John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Psalm 89:48
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Luke 2:26
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

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Age Case Death Keeps Obeyed Solemn Teaching Truth Verily Word
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Age Case Death Keeps Obeyed Solemn Teaching Truth Verily Word
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.














(51) If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.--Better, If a man keep My word. Our version obscures the close connection with the thought of "continuing in His word" in John 8:31; and also that with "He that heareth my word," in John 5:24. This last passage is the key to the words before us. Here, as there, the thought of judgment and death leads to the opposite thought of coming not into judgment, but passing out of death into life. Here, as there, the believer is thought of as possessing the true spiritual life which cannot see death, but shall pass into the fuller spiritual life hereafter.

Another interpretation of the phrase rendered "He shall never see death," is "he shall not see death for ever"--i.e., "he shall indeed die, but that death shall only be in this world, it shall not be in the world which is for ever." This is the thought in the collect in "The Order for the Burial of the Dead ". . . "our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally."

The following are the only passages in St. John where exactly the same formula is used, and a comparison of them will make it clear that it means, as does the Hebrew formula on which it is based, that which we express by "never," or "certainly never." "by no means ever," for the negative is in its strongest form (John 4:14, John 8:52 in this John 10:28; John 11:26; John 13:8). The first and last of these passages refer to subjects ("shall never thirst," "shall never wash my feet"), which do not admit any possibility of doubt. The others are all parallel to the present text, in thought as well as in word. In all there is the fuller meaning that for the believer who now has spiritual life, and continues to live in communion with God, there cannot be death. "He shall never see death." What we think of as death is but a sleep. (See Note on John 11:11.) Death has been swallowed up of life, and physical death is thought of, in its true sense, as an entering into life. . . .

Verse 51. - Verily, verily. This impressive recommencement of discourse implies that a new turn is given to the conversation, and that the gravest solemnity and importance is attached to the utterance. It is impossible that the Jews should have listened unmoved to Christ's rejoinder on their rude taunt, or been unimpressed by the self-composed and lofty way in which the honour of our Lord was calmly entrusted by him to the Father. The Jews may say what they please, call him by any opprobrious name they choose; "there is One that seeketh" his glory, and he is content. He has, in earlier portions of this discourse, promised freedom and sonship to those who abide in his word; and now to those who believed on him he says, with extraordinary emphasis, If a man (any one) have kept my word, he shall never behold death. This "keeping" is more than "abiding" in the word. There is the additional notion of intently watching the "keeping," which issues in "fulfilling" and "obeying" (Meyer and Tholuck); see ver. 55; John 14:15, 21, 23; John 15:20; John 17:6. The opposite of τηρεῖν would be "to disregard;" the opposite of φυλάσσειν would be "to let slip" (Westcott). The promise is dazzling: "He shall never behold," i.e. steadily or exhaustively know by experience, what death means and is. He may pass through physical death, he may (γεύσηται) taste of dissolution, he may come before the judgment seat, he may see corruption (ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν); but he will not behold (θεωρεῖν) death. He will never know what death is (cf. here; John 4:14; John 5:24; John 6:51, where the Saviour speaks of the "living water," and "life eternal," and "living bread," which whoso partaketh shall never die.. See also John 11:26). He does not tell his disciples that they shall not see the grave, but that in the deepest sense they shall never die. "Death" and "life" are words that are lifted into a higher connotation. Death is a moral state, not an event in their physical existence.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Truly,
ἀμὴν (amēn)
Hebrew Word
Strong's 281: Of Hebrew origin; properly, firm, i.e. trustworthy; adverbially, surely.

truly,
ἀμὴν (amēn)
Hebrew Word
Strong's 281: Of Hebrew origin; properly, firm, i.e. trustworthy; adverbially, surely.

I tell
λέγω (legō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st 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.

you,
ὑμῖν (hymin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

if
ἐάν (ean)
Conjunction
Strong's 1437: If. From ei and an; a conditional particle; in case that, provided, etc.

anyone
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

keeps
τηρήσῃ (tērēsē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5083: From teros; to guard, i.e. To note; by implication, to detain; by extension, to withhold; by extension, to withhold.

My
ἐμὸν (emon)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1699: My, mine. From the oblique cases of ego; my.

word,
λόγον (logon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056: From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.

he will never see
θεωρήσῃ (theōrēsē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2334: From a derivative of theaomai; to be a spectator of, i.e. Discern, (experience) or intensively (acknowledge).

death.”
θάνατον (thanaton)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2288: Death, physical or spiritual. From thnesko; death.


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John 8:50
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