What did Jesus write in the sand?

The Bible does not say. John 8:6-8 records that Jesus twice "wrote on the ground" when a woman taken in adultery was brought to him, but not what he wrote. Suggestions include the sins of her accusers, a verse such as Jeremiah 17:13, or words from the law.

The scene appears in John 8:1-11. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman "taken in adultery, in the very act," reminded Jesus that Moses' law commanded stoning, and asked, "but what sayest thou?" They hoped to trap him. "But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not" (John 8:6). When they kept pressing, he stood and said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," and then "again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground" (John 8:7-8). One by one, beginning with the eldest, the accusers left, "being convicted by their own conscience" (John 8:9). John never tells us what Jesus wrote, so every answer is a guess, though some are very old. One view, mentioned by Jerome, is that he wrote the sins of the accusers, which would explain why they left. Another connects it to Jeremiah 17:13, "they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters." Others suggest he wrote a portion of the law, perhaps the requirement that both guilty parties be put to death (Leviticus 20:10), since the man is noticeably absent, or the command not to be "an unrighteous witness" (Exodus 23:1). Still others think the content mattered less than the act, a deliberate pause that turned attention away from the woman and back onto her accusers' hearts. Readers should also know that John 7:53-8:11 is missing from the earliest surviving Greek manuscripts, so many modern Bibles set it apart with a note, though many scholars believe it preserves a genuine story about Jesus. Whatever he wrote, his final words are clear: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (John 8:11).

Key Passages

Jesus writes on the ground

John 8:3-11

³ And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? ⁶ This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. ⁷ So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. ⁸ And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. ⁹ And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? ¹¹ She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

They shall be written in the earth

Jeremiah 17:13

¹³ O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.