What Does John 8:7 Mean?
And when they stayed on asking him, he straightened up and said to them, The one among you who has not missed the mark, let him first throw a stone at her.
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
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.THE KEY
The first stone is conditional: whoever names her failure must first face whether they are without missing themselves.
THE MEANING
The verse makes the first act of judgment depend on the condition of the one who raises a hand. When you name another’s failure, your own standing is already part of the measure being used.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that exposing another person’s failure makes the accuser’s own condition irrelevant.
THE ROOT
ἀναμάρτητος
anamartētos
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
The Greek stem is associated with missing or erring; the prefix ἀ- (a-, without) makes ἀναμάρτητος mean “without missing” or “without sin.”
“has not missed the mark” in this verse is anamartētos. The condition describes the person who casts, not the accusation made against the woman. The phrase belongs to the same word family as ἁμαρτία (hamartia, sin or missing), joining the accuser’s fitness to judge with the failure being judged.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: To miss or err.
ἁμαρτάνω
This verb shows the word family as an action of going wrong, not only a label for a person.
hamartia: Sin; a missing or failure.
ἁμαρτία
The related noun names the very kind of failing that the condition excludes.
βάλλω
ballō
GROWS FROM
βαλλ-
ball-
Throw, cast, or put.
“throw” in this verse is ballō. The verse makes judgment physical: the charge becomes a stone in someone’s hand. In Matthew 7:5, a compound from the same verb family describes casting out the speck after the plank is addressed.
ALSO GROWS
ekballō: Cast out or drive out.
ἐκβάλλω
The same throwing action appears in the image of removing the speck in Matthew 7:5.
emballō: Put or throw into.
ἐμβάλλω
This compound keeps the image of throwing while directing it into something.
THE PATTERN
A judgment aimed at another is brought back under the judge’s own measure.
Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am clean of my falling short?For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.Therefore you have no word to answer with, O human, whoever you are who judges others, for in whatever you judge in another you press the sentence down upon yourself, for you who judge practice the very same things.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.“Without sin” here and “sin no more” there share the ἁμαρτ- (hamart-, missing or erring) word family; the verb in verse 11 is ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō, to miss or err). The same root names both the accusers’ condition and the woman’s charge, while the verse holds non-condemnation alongside responsibility.
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