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Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
John 8:42 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
  • BSB Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.
  • NKJV Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
  • NASB Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came forth from God and am here; for I have not even come on My own, but He sent Me.
  • NLT Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.

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.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • John 12:49For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
  • John 14:10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
  • John 17:8for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
  • John 17:25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
  • John 15:23–24He who hates me, hates my Father also.
  • Mal 1:6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
  • John 1:14The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
  • 1 Jn 5:1–2Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
  • 1 Jn 4:14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
  • John 5:43I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
  • 1 Cor 16:22If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord!
  • John 7:28–29Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know.
  • John 3:17For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
  • John 5:23that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
  • John 16:27–28for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.
  • 1 Jn 4:9–10By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
  • Rev 22:1He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
  • Gal 4:4But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 8:42YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 8:42 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.