Woman Taken in Adultery
(John 8:2–11)

While Christ was teaching in the Temple at Jerusalem the Pharisees brought to him a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery. Under Mosaic law the punishment for the offence was stoning, but the Roman authorities had deprived the Jews of the power to impose the death penalty. What did Christ have to say, the Pharisees wanted to know, hoping to trap him into an answer that would offend either their own or Roman law. Christ bent down and wrote with one finger in the dust, and then said, "That one of you who is faultless shall throw the first stone". At this the woman's accusers went away mortified, and when they were alone Christ forgave her with the words, "You may go; do not sin again". John gives no explanation of Christ's writing on the ground though a medieval tradition had it that he was noting down the sins of the Pharisees. Artists depict various moments in the story. We see the woman brought before Christ by her accusers; he is sitting down with perhaps the apostle John beside him. Or he bends over writing with a finger on the floor; the Pharisees lean forward to read. Or we see their backs as they make their way out. The woman may have braided hair and usually has one breast bared, the usual attributes of the courtesan. One of the Pharisees may hold a book (the Ancient Law), or may have a stone in his hand.