I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”
- KJV I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
- ESV I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
- NKJV I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
- NASB I speak of the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
- NLT I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus speaks what he has seen with the Father, while his opponents act on what they have learned from their father. Two opposing sources of identity are set against each other.
Overview
Jesus contrasts the origin of his words, the Father, with the source of his hearers' deeds. The implication, made explicit later, is that their true father is not God or Abraham but the devil. This sharpens the question of spiritual paternity and prepares for Jesus' direct charge in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- John 5:19So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
- John 8:44You 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 5:30I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 8:41You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”
- John 12:49–50I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.
- 1 Jn 3:8–10The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
- John 8:26“I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the One who sent Me is truthful, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world.”
- John 14:24Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.
- John 14:10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.
- John 3:32He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.
- John 17:8For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
- Matt 3:7But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 8:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.