John 8:39 (YLT)

Passage

They answered and said to him, `Our father is Abraham;' Jesus saith to them, `If children of Abraham ye were, the works of Abraham ye were doing;

Nearby Context

John 8:37 `I have known that ye are seed of Abraham, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you;

John 8:38 I--that which I have seen with my Father do speak, and ye, therefore, that which ye have seen with your father--ye do.'

John 8:39 They answered and said to him, `Our father is Abraham;' Jesus saith to them, `If children of Abraham ye were, the works of Abraham ye were doing;

John 8:40 and now, ye seek to kill me--a man who hath spoken to you the truth I heard from God; this Abraham did not;

John 8:41 ye do the works of your father.' They said, therefore, to him, `We of whoredom have not been born; one Father we have--God;'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "answered", "said", "father", "abraham", "jesus", "saith", and "children". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "answered" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 38's "I--that which I have seen with my..." into verse 40's "and now ye seek to kill me--a...", so "answered" 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 "answered" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.