myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

John 7:53–8:11

The woman caught in adultery

One of the most loved stories about Jesus is missing from the earliest manuscripts of John and appears in different places in later ones.

Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Copied or printed directly
  • Revised edition (documented)
  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Modern edition based on it
  • Uncertain connection
Greek manuscripts
  1. John's original Gospelc. AD 90–100
  2. Papyrus 66c. AD 200Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
  3. Papyrus 75c. AD 175–225Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
  4. Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus4th centuryDescends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
  5. Codex Bezae (D)c. AD 400Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
  6. Codex Alexandrinus5th centuryDescends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
  7. Family 13 and others11th–15th centuryDescends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel
Early writers
  1. Didascalia Apostolorum3rd centuryUncertain relationship to a story circulating in the churches
Ancient translations
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Greek and Old Latin copies of Jerome's day
  2. Syriac Peshittac. 5th centuryTranslated from Greek copies of its day
Printed Greek
  1. Erasmus' Greek New Testament1516Copied or printed directly from later Greek manuscripts in Basel
  2. Received Text (Textus Receptus)1516–1633Revised edition of Erasmus' Greek New Testament
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from Received Text (Textus Receptus)
  2. Modern BiblestodayModern edition based on critical Greek editions that weigh all the manuscripts

Every witness, in order

  1. c. AD 90–100

    John's original Gospel

    – No copy survives

    The original does not survive.

  2. c. AD 200

    Papyrus 66

    ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    One of the oldest copies of John. It goes straight from 7:52 to 8:12.

  3. c. AD 175–225

    Papyrus 75

    ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Another very early copy of John, also without the story.

  4. 3rd century

    Didascalia Apostolorum

    ❝ Quotes or alludes to part of itUncertain relationship to a story circulating in the churches

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    A church manual that tells how Jesus dealt mercifully with a woman who had sinned, showing the story circulated early, though it does not say where it was found.

  5. 4th century

    Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus

    ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Neither contains the story.

    Page of Codex Sinaiticus
    Historical manuscriptImage credit

    Pictured: a page of Matthew in Sinaiticus.

  6. c. AD 400

    Codex Bezae (D)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    The earliest surviving Greek manuscript that contains the story, in its familiar place in John 7–8.

  7. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from Greek and Old Latin copies of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Jerome included it, saying he found it in many Greek and Latin copies. Augustine suggested some had removed it, fearing it would seem to excuse adultery.

  8. c. 5th century

    Syriac Peshitta

    ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Translated from Greek copies of its day

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    The standard Syriac Bible originally lacked the story.

  9. 5th century

    Codex Alexandrinus

    ▢ Pages lost or damaged hereDescends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    The pages for this part of John are lost, but counting the space on the missing leaves suggests the story was not included.

  10. 11th–15th century

    Family 13 and others

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from John's original Gospel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Some manuscripts place the story after Luke 21:38; others after John 7:36 or at the end of John. A story that moves around suggests it circulated on its own before settling in John.

  11. 1516

    Erasmus' Greek New Testament

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Copied or printed directly from later Greek manuscripts in Basel

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Erasmus printed the story in John, as found in the medieval Greek manuscripts he used in Basel.

    Source: Andrew J. Brown, ed., Novum Testamentum ab Erasmo recognitum, Opera Omnia of Erasmus (ASD VI-1 to VI-4, 2008–2013); Basel University Library manuscripts Erasmus used, digitized (e-manuscripta.ch) ↗

  12. 1516–1633

    Received Text (Textus Receptus)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Revised edition of Erasmus' Greek New Testament

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    The printed Greek editions that grew out of Erasmus' work (Stephanus 1550, Beza), all including the story.

  13. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from Received Text (Textus Receptus)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Includes it as part of John without comment, following the printed Received Text.

  14. today

    Modern Bibles

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Modern edition based on critical Greek editions that weigh all the manuscripts

    How the site knows this: Checked in a published edition.

    Nearly all still print it, in brackets or with a note that the earliest manuscripts do not have it.

    Source: NIV ↗; ESV ↗

What changed, and why

Most textual scholars conclude the passage was not part of John's original Gospel. Many also think it records a genuine early tradition about Jesus, which is why churches kept it and why translators keep printing it.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe earliest manuscripts of John (P66, P75, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus) lack the passage.
  • Independently documentedCodex Bezae (c. 400) is the earliest Greek manuscript to include it.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe story preserves a genuine early tradition about Jesus.
  • DisputedJohn wrote it as part of his Gospel.

    Source: Metzger, Textual Commentary on the Greek NT, 2nd ed. (1994), pp. 187–189

Sources

  • Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (1994)
  • Knust & Wasserman, To Cast the First Stone (2019)

Related lessons

  • Why Our Bibles Differ Today →Why Catholic and Protestant Bibles have different books, why modern Bibles have footnotes, and why translations read differently.