# Most profound quote from the Bible **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 26, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098 "2004-04-26T14:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/41 "2004-04-29T03:15:19Z")
> [@ReBusEniGma](#): > > Another fairly modern answer is that He may have been simply writing the names of other much more ‘common’ sins (i.e. anger, malice, greed, lying, etc.) yet still sins just the same. This reinforced His words, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” as well as re-emphasized the importance of forgiveness. I’ve never thought about this question. In _The Passion of the Christ_, Gibson shows Jesus simply drawing a line in the sand. Is this another commonly accepted answer? The genesis of “a line in the sand”? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/42 "2004-04-29T03:31:08Z")
The verse in question is John 8:6, 8. It is not included in the Siniatic MS, Vatican MS 1209, or Syriac Peshitta, but is included in many lesser Manuscripts. Wescott and Hort’s transliteration of the Greek reads “was writing down into the earth.” Seems likely it would be words (or pics) and not merely a line in the sand. ymmv ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/43 "2004-04-29T03:40:43Z")
just fyi: Gospel of John 8:6 in Greek: [touto | touto | de elegon peirazontes auton ina ecwsin kathgorein | autou] | autou | o de ihsous katw kuyas tw daktulw kategrafen eis thn ghn after multiple previews: Um, we lose some fonts? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/44 "2004-04-29T03:44:16Z")
And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/45 "2004-04-29T03:49:19Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > just fyi: > > Gospel of John 8:6 in Greek: > > [touto | touto | de elegon peirazontes auton ina ecwsin kathgorein | autou] | autou | o de ihsous katw kuyas tw daktulw kategrafen eis thn ghn > > after multiple previews: > > Um, we lose some fonts? Found them! [touto | touto | de elegon peirazontes auton ina ecwsin kathgorein | autou] | autou | o de ihsous katw kuyas tw daktulw kategrafen eis thn ghn ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/46 "2004-04-29T04:11:53Z")
When I was younger and more (!!) anxious, this passage used to bring me immense comfort, _even when I had doubts and considered myself an agnostic._: (This is Jesus talking) “…Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barns; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! _Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?_ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” Luke 12:22-26 (Emphasis mine) This is why I think that even when I strayed (sometimes really, really far) from the path of Christianity, God was still chasing me. I was agnostic/neopagan, or whatever, and a Bible verse still provided me the most hope in my darkest moments! I guess I never strayed too far, even though for a time I thought I did. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098/47 "2004-04-29T10:57:09Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Less serious response: You were on a train, while high, and were translating bible verses from ancient Greek, despite being an atheist at the time? You _are_ an interesting character 🙂 I was in a VW microbus with a bunch of other hippies headed to the Fiddler’s Convention. I was translating the verses because of a challenge from the most brilliant man I’ve ever known. I had told him that I doubted the veracity of Biblical translators and had posited that they altered the meaning of text for the purpose of indoctrination and deceit. He pulled out a small book in Greek and handed it to me. I said, “What’s this?” He said, “It’s what you’ve been criticizing. Surely, you know what’s in it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-profound-quote-from-the-bible/242098.md?page=2)