1. Early in the morning Jesus came back to the temple, and all the people were coming to Him, and He sat down to teach them.
2. The scribes and Pharisees, wanting to test Him, brought before Him a woman caught in adultery and set her in the center of the court before Him.
3. They said to Him, "Teacher, our law says she must be stoned to death for her sins; what do you say?"
4. But Jesus said nothing and with His finger began to write in the dust.
5. But they persisted in asking Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But again, He only wrote in the dirt.
6. When they asked him a third time, He stood up and said, "Let the one who is without sin be the first to cast a stone."
7. But when the religious leaders heard this, they began to go out of the court one by one, beginning with the older ones, until eventually the woman was left alone with Jesus.
8. Jesus asked her, "Where are your accusers. Does not anyone condemn you?"
9. The woman answered, "No one, my Lord."
10. And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."
11. Thereafter, the chief religious leaders convened a council and were saying, "This man, Jesus, is performing many miracles, and we are doing nothing. If we let Him go on, all the people will believe in Him, and the government will come and take away our place."
12. Then the chief priest, Caiaphas, said to them, "Do you not realize it is better for one man to die than for an entire nation to perish?"
13. But Caiaphas did not say this on his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation..
14. So from that day forward, they planned together to kill Jesus; and for that reason, Jesus no longer walked publicly among the Jews or the temple. Instead He went to a small town in the countryside where He stayed with His disciples only.
15. And the chief priest and the Pharisees gave orders that anyone knowing the whereabouts of Jesus must report it so that He might be seized.
16. Now, in the small town a crowd had gathered to hear Jesus teach. And in the crowd two blind men hearing the voice of Jesus cried out, "Lord have mercy on us!"
17. But the others in the crowd told them to be silent, but that only made the blind men cry out more.
18. So Jesus called to them and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
19. They said to Him, "Lord we want our eyes opened."
20. Moved with compassion for the blind men, Jesus touched their eyes and they began immediately to see, and they followed Jesus from then on.
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