Jesus went (back) to the Mount of Olives.
Then, in the early morning, he came again to the Temple and all the people came to him, and having sat down he taught them.
Then the scribes and Pharisees led (to him) a woman,
having been caught in adultery
and put her in the middle.
They said to him:
‘Teacher, this woman, was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In the Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’
(They said this to test him, so that they could accuse him).
But Jesus when he had bent down,
he wrote with his finger in the dirt.
As they persisted in questioning him,
he stood up straight, and said to them:
‘Let the sinless one among you, throw a stone first, at her.
And again he when had bent down,
he wrote in the dirt.
Now those who heard this went out one after another,
beginning with the oldest and
he was left alone,
and she was in the middle.
Then Jesus stood up straight and said to her
‘Lady, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’
Then she said ‘No one, Lord’.
Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either.
Go and from now on sin no longer.’
Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alcuin (735-804)