It should be noted that in the Greek text the question What does he mean? comes first, whereas in Good News Translation it is placed last for purposes of English style. This question may be rendered as “What is he trying to say?” or “What is he trying to tell us?” or “What do his words mean?”

One Greek manuscript of the Gospels includes the story of the woman taken in adultery (7.53-8.11) after this verse. See the comments at 8.1.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .