John 8:23
New International Version
But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

New Living Translation
Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not.

English Standard Version
He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

Berean Standard Bible
Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

Berean Literal Bible
And He was saying to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

King James Bible
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

New King James Version
And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

New American Standard Bible
And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

NASB 1995
And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

NASB 1977
And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

Legacy Standard Bible
And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.

Amplified Bible
He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

Christian Standard Bible
“You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“You are from below,” He told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

American Standard Version
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he said to them, “You are from below and I am from above. You are from this world; I am not from this world.”

Contemporary English Version
Jesus answered, "You are from below, but I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don't.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to them: You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.

English Revised Version
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Jesus said to them, "You're from below. I'm from above. You're from this world. I'm not from this world.

Good News Translation
Jesus answered, "You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world.

International Standard Version
He told them, "You are from below, I'm from above. You are of this world, but I'm not of this world.

Literal Standard Version
And He said to them, “You are from beneath, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world;

Majority Standard Bible
Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

New American Bible
He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.

NET Bible
Jesus replied, "You people are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.

New Revised Standard Version
He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

New Heart English Bible
He said to them, "You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Weymouth New Testament
"You," He continued, "are from below, I am from above: you are of this present world, I am not of this present world.

World English Bible
He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

Young's Literal Translation
and he said to them, 'Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Woman Caught in Adultery
22So the Jews began to ask, “Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”…

Cross References
John 3:31
The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

John 17:14
I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

John 17:16
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

1 John 4:5
They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world's perspective, and the world listens to them.

1 John 4:6
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.


Treasury of Scripture

And he said to them, You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world.

Ye are from.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 3:13,31
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven…

Psalm 17:4
Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.

ye are of.

John 15:18,19
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you…

John 17:14,16
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world…

James 4:4
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Jump to Previous
Below Beneath Continued Earth Heaven Present World
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Below Beneath Continued Earth Heaven Present World
John 8
1. Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery.
12. He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine;
31. promises freedom to those who believe;
33. answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham;
48. answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity;
59. and slips away from those who would stone him.














(23) There is indeed a gulf which they cannot pass, but it is not that between souls in Abraham's bosom and souls in Hades. It is the gulf between heaven and earth. This He brings out in two pairs of antithetic clauses. (Comp. Note on John 1:3.) These clauses interpret each other, and no deeper meaning is to be given to the first pair than is borne by the second. We may arrange them in a pair of affirmatives and a pair of negatives--

"Ye are from beneath;" "ye are of this world."

"I am from above" (not from beneath); "I am not of this world."

We have thus the full Hebrew expression of one thought, and this is the thought which John the Baptist, from another point of view, taught his disciples in John 3:31. They are by origin and nature of the earth. He was by origin and nature from heaven. Of the earth, their feelings and thoughts and life were of the earth, and, by devotion to things of the earth, they are destroying the spirit made in the image of God, which is within them, and the link between them and heaven. He is from heaven in origin, and is divine in nature. He has come to reveal the heavenly and the divine to the earthly and the human. In Him, and in Him only, can their spirits find deliverance from sin, and find the true life; for in Him, and in Him only, the divine and the human meet.

Verse 23. - Yet this essential divergence is not based on fatalistic grounds, but on moral ones. The argument of the twenty-fourth verse explains the description of ver. 23. The ground of this utter alienation is the lack of belief, which will leave them in their sins to die. He said to them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above. You spring from the lower as opposed to the higher world; you are influenced by considerations drawn from the earthly, sensual, superficial, and transitory. It is not necessary to suppose that our Lord is clenching the Jews' harsh speech about the underworld with a tu-quoque, as though they verily belonged to the Gehenna to which they were consigning him; for the next pair of clauses are in parallel apposition with the former. In the words, Ye are of this world; I am not of this world, "This world" corresponds with the τῶν κάτω of the previous clause, and the "not of this world" corresponds with the τὰ ἄνω, the heavenly regions from which he has continually declared, in many varieties of phrase, that he had come, or descended, or been sent. Certainly and broadly speaking, this is true, as a contrast between Christ and all other men before their regeneration. Our Lord especially charges home upon these earth-bound souls, on these purely human, selfish, unspiritual, unrenewed, unbelieving men, this antagonism to himself, this refusal to walk in his light or receive his life. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). They are flesh. He does not exclude them forever from such participation in his own heavenly life as would reverse the descriptive and characteristic features of their being. The reason why they have not seen the kingdom or the King is that they are not born of the Spirit.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Then
Καὶ (Kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

He told
ἔλεγεν (elegen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

them,
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

“You
Ὑμεῖς (Hymeis)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

are
ἐστέ (este)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

from
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

below;
κάτω (katō)
Adverb
Strong's 2736: (a) down, below, also: downwards, (b) lower, under, less, of a length of time. Also katotero; adverb from kata; downwards.

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

am
εἰμί (eimi)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

from
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

above.
ἄνω (anō)
Adverb
Strong's 507: Up, above, up to the top, up to the brim, things above, heaven, the heavenly region. Adverb from anti; upward or on the top.

You
ὑμεῖς (hymeis)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

are
ἐστέ (este)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

of
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

this
τούτου (toutou)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

world;
κόσμου (kosmou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2889: Probably from the base of komizo; orderly arrangement, i.e. Decoration; by implication, the world (morally).

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

am
εἰμὶ (eimi)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

not
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

of
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

this
τούτου (toutou)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

world.
κόσμου (kosmou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2889: Probably from the base of komizo; orderly arrangement, i.e. Decoration; by implication, the world (morally).


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NT Gospels: John 8:23 He said to them You are (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 8:22
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