What Does John 8:11 Mean?
She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I judge against you. Go, and miss the mark no more.
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
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.THE KEY
The one with authority to condemn releases the verdict and still names the missing as something that can cease.
THE MEANING
The reader is not reduced to a failure: condemnation is withheld while the missing is named as something that can end. Mercy and moral clarity stand in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that mercy requires ignoring the wrong, or that the person must be condemned before the wrong can be named.
THE ROOT
κατακρίνω
katakrinō
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To judge or decide; with κατά (kata, against), the verb carries the force of judging against or condemning.
“judge against” in this verse is katakrinō. The Greek verb keeps the act of judgment audible. Jesus refuses to render that verdict, while the next clause still names the missing as something that can end.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: Judge or decide.
κρίνω
This root remains inside κατακρίνω, making the judgment Jesus withholds part of the word itself.
kritēs: Judge.
κριτής
This related word names the one who decides; here, Jesus speaks as the one who could judge her.
krisis: Judgment or decision.
κρίσις
This branch makes the verdict beneath “condemn” visible.
μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε
mēketi hamartane
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss or err; in this vocabulary, to miss the mark.
“miss the mark no more” in this verse is mēketi hamartane. The verb describes an action, not a permanent identity: the missing is something that can cease. The line holds release from condemnation beside a real change in what is done.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing; missing the mark.
ἁμαρτία
The related noun shows the shared root beneath the action Jesus tells her to stop.
hamartōlos: One who misses; a sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word can describe a person by the missing, while Jesus addresses the action as something that can end.
THE PATTERN
A wrong can be named while condemnation is withheld and a changed course remains possible.
Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I do not delight in the dying of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your harmful ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, Look, you have become whole. Stop missing the mark, lest something worse come to you.Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus the Anointed One, who walk not after the flesh, but after the breath.THE THREAD
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus the Anointed One, who walk not after the flesh, but after the breath.The noun κατάκριμα (katakrima, condemnation) in Romans 8:1 shares the judging root κρίνω (krinō) with κατακρίνω (katakrinō, condemn) here. Romans names the absence of the sentence; this verse makes the release personal, spoken directly by the one who could condemn.
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