What Does John 8:5 Mean in the King James?

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

John 8:5 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Greek word for “stoned” makes the proposed violence part of the question itself: the stone is already becoming an act.

THE MEANING

A person stands at the center of a demand for lethal judgment. Citing a command does not make the question neutral: the answer is being pressed toward a specific act, the casting of stones. The verse shows how a rule can be made to carry a decision someone is still asking another to authorize.

THE ROOT

λιθάζειν

lithazein

GROWS FROM

λιθ-

⁨λιθ-⁩ (lith-, stone): the Greek stem shared by the word for stone and the verb for stoning.

“stoned” in this verse is lithazein. The Greek moves from stone as an object to stoning as an action through the same stem. English can make “stone” and “stone someone” feel like separate ideas; the shared root holds the instrument and the violence together.

ALSO GROWS

lithos: stone

λίθος

This is the object named by the shared ⁨λιθ-⁩ stem, the very thing the question proposes to use.

lithazō: to stone, to throw stones at

λιθάζω

This is the verb behind ⁨λιθάζειν⁩ in the verse; the proposed sentence already contains the act of using stones against a person.

lithoboleō: to throw stones at, stone

λιθοβολέω

This compound keeps ⁨λιθ-⁩ for stone and joins it to the act of throwing, making explicit the movement from object to violence.

THE PATTERN

A judgment pronounced against another can reveal the measure its speaker is willing to impose.

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.

John 8:7 · KJVThe proposed judgment returns to the people demanding it: the first stone becomes theirs to cast.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 7:2 · KJVThe verse makes the measure used against another the measure that returns to the one judging.

And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:

2 Samuel 12:5 · KJVA person can pronounce severe judgment against another before recognizing how that judgment bears on himself.

THE THREAD

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.

John 8:7 · KJV

The verse’s ⁨λιθάζειν⁩ (lithazein, to stone) and the next verse’s ⁨λίθον⁩ (lithon, stone) share the Greek ⁨λιθ-⁩ root. The next line puts the stone into a person’s hand and makes the one who will cast it part of the question.

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