Jesus replied, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father.”
Then said they unto him, “We be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God.”
“If God were your Father,” Jesus rejoined, “ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself; but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? because ye cannot hear my word. 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. And, because I tell you the truth, ye believe not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And, if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s word. Ye, therefore, hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
The rulers, growing more and more exasperated by this plainness of speech, replied, “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”
Jesus answered, “I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”
His opponents replied, “Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead. Whom makest thou thyself?”
Jesus answered, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth me, of whom ye say that he is your God. 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. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.”
Then said the Jews, “Thou art not yet fifty years old; and hast thou seen Abraham?”
Jesus replied, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
The exasperation of his foes now exceeded all bounds, and they began to pick up stones to stone him; but Jesus, exercising that marvellous power by which he had before extricated himself from the violence of his enemies, quietly retired from the temple, passing through the midst of them.