John 8:55
New International Version
Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.

New Living Translation
but you don’t even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him.

English Standard Version
But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

Berean Standard Bible
You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

Berean Literal Bible
And you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you. But I know Him, and I keep His word.

King James Bible
Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

New King James Version
Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.

New American Standard Bible
and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you; but I do know Him, and I follow His word.

NASB 1995
and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.

NASB 1977
and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him, and keep His word.

Legacy Standard Bible
and you have not known Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.

Amplified Bible
Yet you do not know Him, but I know Him fully. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him and keep His word.

Christian Standard Bible
You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You’ve never known Him, but I know Him. If I were to say I don’t know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

American Standard Version
and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“And you do not know him, but I know him, and if I had said that I did not know him, I Myself would have been a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”

Contemporary English Version
even though you don't really know him. If I said I didn't know him, I would be a liar, just like all of you. But I know him, and I do what he says.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I shall say that I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know him, and do keep his word.

English Revised Version
and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Yet, you haven't known him. However, I know him. If I would say that I didn't know him, I would be a liar like all of you. But I do know him, and I do what he says.

Good News Translation
You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word.

International Standard Version
You don't know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I don't know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word.

Literal Standard Version
and you have not known Him, and I have known Him, and if I say that I have not known Him, I will be like you—speaking falsely; but I have known Him, and I keep His word;

Majority Standard Bible
You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

New American Bible
You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word.

NET Bible
Yet you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his teaching.

New Revised Standard Version
though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word.

New Heart English Bible
You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, 'I do not know him,' I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I should be a liar like you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

Weymouth New Testament
You do not know Him, but I know Him perfectly; and were I to deny my knowledge of Him, I should resemble you, and be a liar. On the contrary I do know Him, and I obey His commands.

World English Bible
You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye have not known Him, and I have known Him, and if I say that I have not known Him, I shall be like you -- speaking falsely; but I have known Him, and His word I keep;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Before Abraham was Born, I Am
54Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say ‘He is our God.’ 55 You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.”…

Cross References
John 7:29
but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me."

John 8:19
"Where is Your Father?" they asked Him. "You do not know Me or My Father," Jesus answered. "If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well."

John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:51
Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death."

John 8:52
"Now we know that You have a demon!" declared the Jews. "Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.

John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love.

John 15:21
But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.


Treasury of Scripture

Yet you have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like to you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

ye have not.

John 8:19
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

John 7:28,29
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not…

John 15:21
But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

but.

John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 6:46
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

John 7:29
But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.

shall.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

1 John 2:4,22
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him…

1 John 5:10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

and keep.

John 8:29,51
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him…

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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.














(55) Yet ye have not known him; but I know him.--The frequency of lip-assertion was not accompanied by any true heart-knowledge. The Father who glorified Him was the God whom they professed to serve. Their question, "Whom makest Thou Thyself? "has its explanation in the fact that this service was independent of any real knowledge of God. The two verbs "know" and "known" here do not represent the same Greek word. More exactly the rendering should be, And ye have not come to know Him: but I know Him. The one clause expresses acquired recognition; the other expresses immediate essential knowledge. (Comp. Note on John 14:7.)

If I should say, I know him not.--The thought of their want of perception of God has led to the assertion by contrast of His own full intuitive knowledge of God. To assert this knowledge is to make Himself greater than Abraham and the prophets; but there is untruth in silence as well as in utterance, and His very truthfulness demands the assertion.

But I know him, and keep his saying.--Or better, His word, as in John 8:51-52. Again the positive statement is made in the certainty of His full knowledge, and this is followed by a statement of the observance of the same condition of communion with the Father which He had made necessary for communion of the disciples with Himself.

Verse 55. - And (i.e. while you thus speak, and though you call him your God; cf. a similar use of καί, very nearly expressed, but not exactly, by the "yet" of the Authorized Version) ye have not come to know him by all the experiences through which you have passed (cf. John 7:29; John 17:25; and ver. 19). You do not know the only true God, you have not the knowledge which is life eternal. But I know him, absolutely, intuitively, by the open eye of clearest consciousness, with invincible and perfect assent. The use and contrast of the two verbs ἐγνώκατε and οϊδα, here and elsewhere, is very striking (see John 3:10; John 21:17). When our Lord, however, was broadly contrasting the Jewish knowledge of God with that of the Samaritans, and identifying himself with the Jews (John 4:22), he uses οϊδαμεν. If I should say that I know him not - which I do not and dare not say. Christ could not admit that his absolute knowledge was a delusion. The reality of the Father in his Divine-human consciousness, expressing itself through his human thought and word, was supreme, overmastering, sublime - I shall be, like you, a liar; I should deceive you wilfully, as you are deceiving yourselves. We cannot fail here again to observe the severity of Jesus as portrayed in this Gospel. (There is nothing surely here, or in other numerous utterances in this discourse, inconsistent with the Son of Thunder.) No cowardly modesty (Lange) is possible to him. He knows, and must speak. He cannot, dare not, be silent, or allow these bitter enemies, with their ready malice and perverse and continuous misinterpretation of his words, to be ignorant, either of the ground of his self-consciousness or his penetration of their flimsy excuses. So once more he adds, But I know him, and keep (τηρῶ) his word. He will not allow this Divine consciousness to be taken from him, even by the shame and agony of the cross (Lange).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
You do not know
ἐγνώκατε (egnōkate)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1097: A prolonged form of a primary verb; to 'know' in a great variety of applications and with many implications.

Him,
αὐτόν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.

but
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

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.

know
οἶδα (oida)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1492: To know, remember, appreciate.

Him.
αὐτόν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.

If
κἂν (kan)
Conjunction
Strong's 2579: And if, even if, even, at least. From kai and ean; and if.

I said
εἴπω (eipō)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

I did not know
οἶδα (oida)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1492: To know, remember, appreciate.

Him,
αὐτόν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.

I would be
ἔσομαι (esomai)
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 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.

a liar
ψεύστης (pseustēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5583: A liar, deceiver. From pseudomai; a falsifier.

like
ὅμοιος (homoios)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3664: Like, similar to, resembling, of equal rank. From the base of homou; similar.

you.
ὑμῖν (hymin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

But
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

I do know
οἶδα (oida)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1492: To know, remember, appreciate.

Him,
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

I keep
τηρῶ (tērō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 5083: From teros; to guard, i.e. To note; by implication, to detain; by extension, to withhold; by extension, to withhold.

His
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.

word.
λόγον (logon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056: From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.


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John 8:54
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