They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

And said to him: Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery.

they say to him, Teacher, this woman has been taken in the very act, committing adultery.

they say to him, 'Teacher, this woman was taken in the very crime, committing adultery,

"Rabbi," they said, "this woman has been found in the very act of committing adultery.

And putting her forward, they said to him, Master, this woman has been taken in the very act of sinning against the married relation.

And they said to him: "Teacher, this woman was just now caught in adultery.

and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was found in the act of adultery.

They say unto him, Master,.... They applied to him in a handsome and respectful manner, the better to cover their ill design:
this woman was taken in adultery; by two persons at least, who could be witnesses of it; otherwise the accusation was not legal; see Deuteronomy 19:15; though in the case of a wife suspected of adultery, they admitted a single witness as valid (f):
in the very act; or "in the theft itself", for adultery is a theft; it is an unlawful use of another's property; see this word used in the same sense, in Heliodor, l. 1. sect. 11.
(f) Maimon. Hilchot Eduth, c. 5. sect. 2.

woman . . . in adultery . . . Moses . . . commanded . . . should be stoned--simply put to death (Deuteronomy 22:22), but in aggravated cases, at least in later times, this was probably by stoning (Ezekiel 16:40).
but what sayest thou--hoping, whatever He might answer, to put Him in the wrong:--if He said, Stone her, that would seem a stepping out of His province; if He forbade it, that would hold Him up as a relaxer of the public morals. But these cunning hypocrites were overmatched.