John 8:33
8:33 “We are descendants 1 of Abraham,” they replied, 2 “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, 3 ‘You will become free’?”
John 8:39-40
8:39 They answered him, 4 “Abraham is our father!” 5 Jesus replied, 6 “If you are 7 Abraham’s children, you would be doing 8 the deeds of Abraham.
8:40 But now you are trying 9 to kill me, a man who has told you 10 the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! 11
John 8:53
8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? 12 And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”
1 tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).
2 tn Grk “They answered to him.”
3 tn Or “How is it that you say.”
4 tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”
5 tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”
6 tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”
7 tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).
8 tc Some important mss (Ì66 B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א2 C K L N Δ Ψ Ë1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì75 א* B2 D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).
tn Or “you would do.”
9 tn Grk “seeking.”
10 tn Grk “has spoken to you.”
11 tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.
12 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).