John 8:58
New International Version
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

New Living Translation
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am !”

English Standard Version
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Berean Standard Bible
“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Berean Literal Bible
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

King James Bible
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

New King James Version
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

New American Standard Bible
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

NASB 1995
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

NASB 1977
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Amplified Bible
Jesus replied, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am.”

Christian Standard Bible
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”

American Standard Version
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Yeshua said to them: “Timeless truth I speak to you: Before Abraham would exist, I AM THE LIVING GOD.”

Contemporary English Version
Jesus answered, "I tell you for certain that even before Abraham was, I was, and I am."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.

English Revised Version
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Jesus told them, "I can guarantee this truth: Before Abraham was ever born, I am."

Good News Translation
"I am telling you the truth," Jesus replied. "Before Abraham was born, 'I Am'."

International Standard Version
Jesus told them, "Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, before there was an Abraham, I AM!"

Literal Standard Version
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham’s coming—I AM”;

Majority Standard Bible
“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

New American Bible
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

NET Bible
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!"

New Revised Standard Version
Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

New Heart English Bible
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM."

Webster's Bible Translation
Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Weymouth New Testament
"In most solemn truth," answered Jesus, "I tell you that before Abraham came into existence, I am."

World English Bible
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”

Young's Literal Translation
Jesus said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming -- I am;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Before Abraham was Born, I Am
57Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.…

Cross References
Exodus 3:14
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 8:24
That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

John 8:28
So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me.

John 10:25
"I already told you," Jesus replied, "but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father's name testify on My behalf.

John 17:5
And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.

John 17:24
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.


Treasury of Scripture

Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Verily.

John 8:34,51
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin…

Before.

John 1:1,2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…

John 17:5,24
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was…

Proverbs 8:22-30
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old…

I am.

Exodus 3:14
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Isaiah 43:13
Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

Isaiah 44:6,8
Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God…

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Abraham Abraham's Born Existence Jesus Solemn Truth Verily
John 8
1. Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery.
12. He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine;
31. promises freedom to those who believe;
33. answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham;
48. answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity;
59. and slips away from those who would stone him.














(58) Before Abraham was, I am.--Better, Before Abraham was born, I am. (Comp. Note on John 1:6; and see another striking instance in Luke 6:36, "Become ye merciful as your Father also is merciful.") Here they ask in wonder, not unmixed with scorn, if He was coeval with Abraham. The answer is that Abraham, like all men, came into being. There was a time when he was not. But there was never a time when the Son of God was not. In the time before Abraham, in the eternity before time (John 1:1), He still was. No word which expresses becoming can be used of His existence. He is the I AM, present equally in the human "was," and "is," and "is to come."

Verse 58. - The reply of Jesus to this taunt is one of the most surprising and baffling kind on any hypothesis of our Lord's consciousness being limited as that of all other of the sons of men. He gives the solemn emphasis of the Αμὴν ἀμὴν once more - Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born (came into being), I am. Abraham came into existence by birth (the Vulgate translates, Antequam fierat Abraham Ego sum): I am. Numerous attempts have been made to explain this climacteric utterance on some humanistic theory. The contrast is very remarkable between γενέσθαι and εἰμι. Jesus Christ declared his own timeless existence to have been in his consciousness before Abraham came into being at all. The "I am" reminds us repeatedly, when used by Jesus, of the "I AM THAT I AM" of Exodus 3:14, and the "thou art" of Psalm 90. (89:2, LXX.); Psalms 102:28. His human consciousness gave utterance to the awful depths of the eternal Ego. Now, some critics have limited it in its meaning to "I existed in the counsel of God." But there are three objections to this interpretation: one is

(1) that the present tense, εἰμί, and not the past, η΅ν, was used by our Lord; and

(2) on this interpretation Abraham must have also equally pre-existed in the counsel of God; and

(3) such a statement would throw no light on the previous discourse. The Racovian Confession of Faith, based on the view of Socinus, explains, "Before Abram becomes Abraham, i.e. the father of many nations, I am it, the Messiah, the Light of the world." Not until my Messianic claims are acknowledged, and the many nations become children of Abraham, does Abraham really become Abraham, does his name derive its full meaning. This would be rabbinical trifling (J.P. Smith, 'Script. Test. to Messiah,' vol. 2). Beyschlag thinks that our Lord realized in his Person not a conscious pre-existence before Abraham, or before all worlds, but an impersonal principle, the image of God, which could only "be" in the eternal mind of God. There is a sense in which every man may realize such pre-existence as this, not merely "the Son of God," nor the new man in Christ, but every man whatsoever; but such a statement is entirely out of harmony with the whole passage that precedes. If the Jews had understood it in this sense, they would not have taken up stores to stone him, but, after their wont, would have said, "So also were we." "Ideas do not see one another." The first ἐγὼ εἰμί (ver. 12) brought out their angry unbelief, but this excites their murderous assault. We have to observe that this remarkable expression does not stand alone. St. John had reasons for saying "that the Word was with God, and was God. and was made flesh" (John 1:1, 3, 14). If Jesus, in his Divine consciousness, had never elsewhere spoken of having had a being before his manifestation (John 6:46, 62; John 17:5), of having taken part with the Father from the beginning (John 5:17), of being "one with the Father" (John 10:30, 33), of being greater than the temple or the sabbath, as being the Object of the eternal love in coming down from heaven, in laying down his life that he might take it again (John 10:17, 18); and if the language of the apostles (Hebrews 1:1, 2; Colossians 1:17; Revelation 1:18) had not entirely prepared our mind for the data on which such conclusions rested, a generation before this Gospel was reduced to form, we might join the effort to resist such a claim as that of eternal pre-existence. But the whole tenor of the Gospel and the entire New Testament teaching are seen, more and more, to turn upon this fundamental position - that in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead, that he had life in himself, and eternity, and that the manhood has not only been lifted to the highest place in human remembrance, but to the midst of the throne.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
“Truly,
Ἀμὴν (Amēn)
Hebrew Word
Strong's 281: Of Hebrew origin; properly, firm, i.e. trustworthy; adverbially, surely.

truly,
ἀμὴν (amēn)
Hebrew Word
Strong's 281: Of Hebrew origin; properly, firm, i.e. trustworthy; adverbially, surely.

I tell
λέγω (legō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

you,”
ὑμῖν (hymin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

Jesus
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

declared,
Εἶπεν (Eipen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

“before
πρὶν (prin)
Adverb
Strong's 4250: Formerly, before. Adverb from pro; prior, sooner.

Abraham
Ἀβραὰμ (Abraam)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 11: Abraham, progenitor of the Hebrew race. Of Hebrew origin; Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.

was born,
γενέσθαι (genesthai)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Middle
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

am!”
εἰμί (eimi)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.


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NT Gospels: John 8:58 Jesus said to them Most certainly (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 8:57
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