Bible Strands
John 8:19
“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus answers a challenge from the religious leaders in the temple courts near the treasury, immediately after declaring that both He and the Father testify to Him (v. 18). Their question is not curiosity but a test of His claim to divine sonship.
The words — ἔλεγον (elegon), imperfect tense: "they were saying," not a single question but a repeated, ongoing pattern of challenge. This marks the exchange as a sustained confrontation, not a one-off query.
The thread — John 16:3 states the same principle in negative form: "they have not known the Father or Me." John 14:6 makes the connection explicit: no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
Why it lands — The verse removes the option of knowing one without the other. A reader is left with no middle ground: either the relationship holds or it doesn't.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Then 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.
Cross-references
- John 8:54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
- John 16:3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
- John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
- John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
- John 7:28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him,
- 1 Corinthians 15:34 Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.
- Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.
- Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.