John 8:19
What does John 8:19 mean?
A plain-English look at John 8:19 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What John 8:19 means
Their question, “Where is thy Father?” shows their earthly mindset, imagining a human father they can locate. Jesus responds that their ignorance of Him proves they do not know the Father. Knowledge of God is relational and Christ-centered: to see and receive Jesus is to know the Father; to reject Him is to remain in darkness. The problem is not lack of data but lack of recognition. They stand before the Son of God and miss the Father’s presence in Him. Jesus exposes the root issue—spiritual blindness that mistakes proximity to religion for intimacy with God.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Then they said to him, Where is your Father? Jesus said in answer, You have no knowledge of me or of my Father: if you had knowledge of me you would have knowledge of my Father.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862They 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.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752They said therefore to him: Where is thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither me do you know, nor my Father. If you did know me, perhaps you would know my Father also.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890They said to him therefore, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me nor my Father. If ye had known me, ye would have known also my Father.
Context
This verse follows Jesus’ claim that He and the Father bear witness. The leaders’ literal question reveals their misunderstanding. Jesus answers by making knowledge of God hinge on knowledge of Himself. The setting is the temple treasury, as the next verse notes, highlighting the irony: in the center of religious life, they do not know God. The narrative will underscore divine timing: despite rising hostility, no one seizes Jesus because His hour has not yet come. The tension between revelation and rejection grows sharper.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- John 10:14
I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me,
- 2 Corinthians 4:4
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
- Galatians 4:9
but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?
- John 15:21
But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
- John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- John 1:10
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.
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