What Does John 8:10 Mean?
Jesus straightened up, and seeing no one but the woman, he said to her, Woman, where are those who speak against you? Has no one judged against you?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?THE KEY
The verse refuses to collapse a public accusation into a final verdict.
THE MEANING
You are seen apart from the accusing crowd. The question keeps a charge and a condemning verdict distinct: accusation does not, by itself, settle who you are.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An accusation from others has already settled who you are.
THE ROOT
κατέκρινεν
katekrinen
GROWS FROM
κριν- (krin-), from κρίνω (krinō)
To distinguish, decide, or judge; with κατά (kata, against), to judge against.
“judged against” in this verse is katekrinen. The word names a verdict made against someone, not an identity inherent in them. Its family includes the act of judging, the judge, and the judgment itself, so the question asks whether the accusation has become a sentence.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment or decision
κρίσις
It shows the act of deciding that lies beneath the question of whether a verdict has been reached.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
It names the one who makes a judgment, keeping the question focused on who has authority to pronounce it.
katakrima: condemnation; a verdict against
κατάκριμα
It makes explicit the condemning outcome that the verb in this verse asks about.
κατήγοροι
katēgoroi
GROWS FROM
ἀγορεύω (agoreuō), with κατά (kata)
ἀγορεύω means to speak in an assembly; κατά adds the sense of speaking against.
“those who speak against you” in this verse is katēgoroi. The word’s formation carries the shape of speaking against in public. The verse then asks whether that public charge has become a verdict: accusation and condemnation are not the same act.
ALSO GROWS
agoreuō: speak publicly or in an assembly
ἀγορεύω
It shows the public speech carried within the word for an accuser.
katēgoria: accusation or charge
κατηγορία
It names the charge itself, clarifying the difference between bringing an accusation and rendering a verdict.
agora: public gathering place or marketplace
ἀγορά
It shares the public setting behind the word’s image of speaking against someone.
THE PATTERN
A spoken charge is not itself the final verdict.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to deliver him from those who judge his living soul.Who is the one who condemns? It is the Anointed One who died, but more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also approaches on our behalf.For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be delivered through him.THE THREAD
She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I judge against you. Go, and miss the mark no more.The same Greek verb, κατακρίνω (katakrinō), appears when Jesus answers her in the next verse: “Neither do I condemn thee.” The question here opens into that answer, moving from whether anyone has condemned her to Jesus explicitly withholding condemnation.
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