<P> The subject of Jesus' writing on the ground was fairly common in art, especially from the Renaissance onwards, with examples by artists including those by Pieter Bruegel and Rembrandt . There was a medieval tradition, originating in a comment attributed to Ambrose, that the words written were terra terram accusat ("earth accuses earth"; a reference to the end of verse Genesis 3: 19: "for dust you are and to dust you will return"), which is shown in some depictions in art, for example, the Codex Egberti . This is very probably a matter of guesswork based on Jeremiah 17: 13 . There have been other speculations about what Jesus wrote . </P> <P> John 7: 53--8: 11 in the New Revised Standard Version: </P> <P> Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives . Early in the morning he came again to the temple . All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them . The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery . Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women . Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him . Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground . When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her ." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground . When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him . Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir ." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you . Go your way, and from now on do not sin again ." </P> <P> This episode, and its message of mercy and forgiveness balanced with a call to holy living, have endured in Christian thought . Both "let him who is without sin, cast the first stone" and "go, and sin no more" have found their way into common usage . The English idiomatic phrase to "cast the first stone" is derived from this passage . </P>

Who is the adulterous woman in the bible