John 8:17 It is also written in your law,

Jesus tells people that he is the light of the world. His opponents say his testimony is untrue because he doesn't decide alone.

KJV

John 8:17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

NIV

John 8:17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.

LISTENERS HEARD

And in this law, however, that of yours, it has been written that belonging to two people the testimony is true.

MY TAKE

Legally, two people must agree before anything is true.

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page)

J ohn 8:17 καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ δὲ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ γέγραπται ὅτι δύο ἀνθρώπων ἡ μαρτυρία ἀληθής ἐστιν.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

The most important thing about this verse is that it is a setup for the next verse. Jesus has already said he is a legitimate witness because of what he has "seen." The next issue of Jewish law is that it requires two people to give evidence to establish something is true.

Jesus repeats the idea of "your law" by saying "what is written" which means the same thing. In between, he puts a "however," omitted in translation, to give his audience an inkling that he is going to say something different. The term translated as "your" is not the common pronoun, but a special term that refers to a group of people. Jesus uses it only a few other times in the Gospels. It identifies the law as belonging to the Judean people, not the Pharisees. It separates their law from that of the Romans.

WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "is" is the present tense, but Greek is in the past perfect, a completed action, "has been."
MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" before "of yours" is not shown in the English translation.
CW - Confusing Word -- The "your" does not capture the specific meaning of the word.
MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" before "laws" is not shown in the English translation.
MW - Missing Word -- The helping verb "however" is needed to show the future tense of the verse.

MW - Missing Word -- The helping verb "and" is needed to show the future tense of the verse.
WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "is" is the present tense, but Greek is in the past perfect, a completed action, "has been."
MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" before "of yours" is not shown in the English translation.
CW - Confusing Word -- The "your own" does not capture the specific meaning of the word.
MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" before "laws" is not shown in the English translation.
MW - Missing Word -- The helping verb "however" is needed to show the future tense of the verse.
WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "witnesses" should be something more like "people."

EACH WORD of KJV

It -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.

is -- (WT) This helping verb indicates the present tense of the verb. The verb is the tense indicating an action completed in the past.

also -- The Greek word translated as "also" is used as the conjunction "and," but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").

written -- "Write" is the Greek verb that means "to mark," "to express by written characters," "to write a letter," "to write down [a law]," and so on.

in -- The word translated as "in" means "in," "within," "with" (an instrument), "during" (time), or "among" with a dative object as the one here. With the accusative, it means "into," "on," and "for." When referring to time, it means "during." It can mean "on," "at," or "by" in the sense of "near."

missing "the" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.

your - - (CW) The term translated as "your" is not the common pronoun, but a special term that refers to a group of people, "your people," "your goods," and "your household."Jesus uses it only three times in the Gospels. It is not the common pronoun usually translated as "your."

missing "the" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.

law, -- The Greek word translated as "law" describes the social norms, which can be from "tradition," "common practice," or the "laws." Jesus uses it to refer to the first five books of the OT written by Moses. He did not use it to refer to civil or Roman law. See this article.

missing "however" -- (MW) The untranslated word "however" means "but," "however," and "on the other hand." It joins phrases in an adversarial way. Since it always falls in the second position, translating it as "however" often captures its feeling better. It can also be an explanation of cause ("so").

that -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause, "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."

the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, without a noun, it has the sense of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more.

testimony - "Testimony" is from a Greek word that "testimony" and "evidence."

of -- This word "of" comes from the genitive case of the following word that requires the addition of a preposition in English. The most common is the "of" of possession. However, it can also mean "belonging to," "part of," "which is," "than" (in comparisons), or "for," "concerning" or "about" with transitive verbs. In references to time, it could instead be translated ‘during’, ‘at’, or ‘within’.

two -- The "twain" is the numeral, "two," which, like numbers in English, plays a lot of roles. Often, it acts as an adjective, but without a noun to modify, so it takes on the role of a noun. The Greek word is "duo," which of course in English means "a pair of singers," or, more generally, any "pair." It uses joins the two people walking together as a pair or a couple.

men -- The Greek word for "man" means "man," "person" and "humanity" in the singular. In the plural, it means "men," "people," and "peoples."

is -- The verb "is" here is the common form of "to be" in Greek. It means to have a certain characteristic or remain in a certain condition. It also equates terms or assigns characteristics. With the genitive object, the sense is "belongs to."

true. - The word translated as "true" primarily means "unconcealed", based on the noun form, which means "what is not hidden." It therefore means "so true," an accentuated form of true, with nothing hidden.

EACH WORD of NIV

missing "and" -- (MW) The untranslated word "and" is used as the conjunction "and," but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").

In -- The word translated as "in" means "in," "within," "with" (an instrument), "during" (time), or "among" with a dative object as the one here. With the accusative, it means "into," "on," and "for." When referring to time, it means "during." It can mean "on," "at," or "by" in the sense of "near."

missing "the" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.

your own - - (CW) The term translated as "your own" is not the common pronoun, but a special term that refers to a group of people, "your people," "your goods," and "your household."Jesus uses it only three times in the Gospels. It is not the common pronoun usually translated as "your."

missing "the" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.

law, -- The Greek word translated as "law" describes the social norms, which can be from "tradition," "common practice," or the "laws." Jesus uses it to refer to the first five books of the OT written by Moses. He did not use it to refer to civil or Roman law. See this article.

it -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.