John 8:21 (YLT)

Passage

therefore said Jesus again to them, `I go away, and ye will seek me, and in your sin ye shall die; whither I go away, ye are not able to come.'

Nearby Context

John 8:19 They said, therefore, to him, `Where is thy father?' Jesus answered, `Ye have neither known me nor my Father: if me ye had known, my Father also ye had known.'

John 8:20 These sayings spake Jesus in the treasury, teaching in the temple, and no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come;

John 8:21 therefore said Jesus again to them, `I go away, and ye will seek me, and in your sin ye shall die; whither I go away, ye are not able to come.'

John 8:22 The Jews, therefore, said, `Will he kill himself, because he saith, Whither I go away, ye are not able to come?'

John 8:23 and he said to them, `Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "said", "jesus", "again", "away", "seek", "shall", and "whither". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "These sayings spake Jesus in the treasury..." into verse 22's "The Jews therefore said Will he kill...", so "therefore" and "said" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "therefore" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.