What Does John 8:9 Mean in the King James?
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
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 crowd’s verdict collapses when each hearer meets the witness within.
THE MEANING
The hearers encounter their own conscience, and the group unravels person by person, beginning with the eldest. Jesus remains alone with the woman, who is still standing in the midst.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A crowd’s accusation does not prove its speakers stand outside the judgment they place on another; here each hearer is exposed by an inward witness.
THE ROOT
συνείδησις
syneidēsis
GROWS FROM
σύν + οἶδα (syn + oida)
knowing with; shared or inward awareness
Conscience carries the sense of a knowing-with, an inward co-witness that accompanies the hearer. The verse makes that hidden witness the force that dissolves the crowd one person at a time.
ALSO GROWS
synoida: know with oneself; be conscious of
σύνοιδα
This related verb makes conscience an active inner knowing, not merely an outside verdict imposed on the hearer.
oida: know; recognize
οἶδα
The word’s root ties conscience to knowing, so the hearers’ own awareness becomes the place where the judgment lands.
ἐλεγχόμενοι
elenchómenoi
GROWS FROM
ἐλέγχω
elenchō
expose, reprove, or bring to light through conviction
“convicted” in this verse is elenchómenoi. The verb names an exposure that makes what is hidden visible. Its passive form places the hearers under that exposure, while “their own conscience” locates the witness within them.
ALSO GROWS
élenchos: proof, conviction, evidence
ἔλεγχος
This related noun names what exposes or establishes something; here the hearers’ inner witness makes their own standing plain.
elegmós: reproof
ἐλεγμός
This cognate names the rebuking force of exposure, echoing how the hearers are confronted without another accusation being spoken against each one.
THE PATTERN
The measure used to judge another can turn inward and expose the judge.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;THE THREAD
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)Romans uses the same Greek word for conscience, συνείδησις (syneidēsis), and describes it as bearing witness. John 8:9 shows that witness at work: it turns the hearers inward, and they leave one by one.
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