7:52

You are not also out of Galilee, are you?: This question apparently reflects the contempt that these Judeans felt toward Galileans. When Nicodemus spoke up in defense of Jesus (Joh 7:51), the Pharisees were, in effect, asking: “Are you defending and supporting him, putting yourself on the level of a backward Galilean?” Since the Sanhedrin and the temple were in Jerusalem, no doubt a great concentration of teachers of the Law was to be found there, which likely gave rise to the Jewish proverb: “Go north [to Galilee] for riches, go south [to Judea] for wisdom.” But evidence indicates that the Galileans were not ignorant of God’s Law. Throughout the cities and villages of Galilee, there were teachers of the Law as well as synagogues that served as educational centers. (Lu 5:17) This arrogant reply to Nicodemus indicates that the Pharisees did not make any effort to learn that Bethlehem was Jesus’ actual birthplace. (Mic 5:2; Joh 7:42) They also failed to discern Isaiah’s prophecy that likened the Messiah’s preaching to “a great light” that would shine in Galilee.​—Isa 9:1, 2; Mt 4:13-17.

no prophet . . . out of Galilee: This statement ignores the prophetic words of Isa 9:1, 2, foretelling that a great light would come from Galilee. Some scholars also suggest that the Pharisees were making a sweeping generalization that no prophet had ever arisen or could ever arise out of lowly Galilee. This ignores the fact that the prophet Jonah was from the Galilean town of Gath-hepher, just 4 km (2.5 mi) NNE of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.​—2Ki 14:25.

7:53

The earliest authoritative manuscripts do not have the passage from Joh 7:53 to 8:11. These 12 verses were obviously added to the original text of John’s Gospel. (See App. A3.) They are not found in the two earliest available papyri containing the Gospel of John, Papyrus Bodmer 2 (P⁶⁶) and Papyrus Bodmer 14, 15 (P⁷⁵), both from the second century C.E., nor are they found in the Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus, both from the fourth century C.E. They first appear in a Greek manuscript from the fifth century (Codex Bezae) but are not found in any other Greek manuscripts until the ninth century C.E. They are omitted by most of the early translations into other languages. One group of Greek manuscripts places the added words at the end of John’s Gospel; another group puts them after Lu 21:38. That this portion appears at different places in different manuscripts supports the conclusion that it is a spurious text. Scholars overwhelmingly agree that these verses were not part of the original text of John.

Greek manuscripts and translations into other languages that include these verses read (with some variations) as follows:

⁵³ So they went each one to his home.

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² At daybreak, however, he again presented himself at the temple, and all the people began coming to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. ³ Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught at adultery, and, after standing her in their midst, ⁴ they said to him: “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses prescribed for us to stone such sort of women. What, really, do you say?” ⁶ Of course, they were saying this to put him to the test, in order to have something with which to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger in the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them: “Let the one of you that is sinless be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And bending over again he kept on writing in the ground. ⁹ But those who heard this began going out, one by one, starting with the older men, and he was left alone, and the woman that was in their midst. ¹⁰ Straightening up, Jesus said to her: “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said: “No one, sir.” Jesus said: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way; from now on practice sin no more.”