text:
Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the Pericope Adulterae) is a most likely pseudepigraphical passage (pericope) found in John 7:53–8:11 of the New Testament.

In the passage, Jesus was teaching in the Temple after coming from the Mount of Olives. A group of scribes and Pharisees confronts Jesus, interrupting his teaching. They bring in a woman, accusing her of committing adultery, claiming she was caught in the very act. They tell Jesus that the punishment for someone like her should be stoning, as prescribed by Mosaic Law. Jesus begins to write something on the ground using his finger; when the woman's accusers continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone at her. The accusers and congregants depart, realizing not one of them is without sin either, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman if anyone has condemned her and she answers no. Jesus says that he too does not condemn her and tells her to go and sin no more.

There is now a broad academic consensus that the passage is a later interpolation added after the earliest known manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Although it is included in most modern translations (one notable exception being the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures) it is typically noted as a later interpolation, as it is by Novum Testamentum Graece NA28. This has been the view of "most NT scholars, including most evangelical NT scholars, for well over a century" (written in 2009). However, its originality has been defended by a minority of scholars who believe in the Byzantine priority hypothesis. The passage appears to have been included in some texts by the 4th century and became generally accepted by the 5th century.

The passage
John 7:53–8:11 in the New Revised Standard Version reads as follows:

"Then each of them went home,$8:1$ while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.$2$ 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.$3$ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them,$4$ they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.$5$ Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"$6$ 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. $7$ 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."$8$ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.$9$ 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.$10$ Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"$11$ She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.""

- John 7:53–8:11, NRSV

Interpretation
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.

The passage has been taken as confirmation of Jesus's ability to write, otherwise only suggested by implication in the Gospels, but the word ἔγραφεν (egraphen) in John 8:8 could mean "draw" as well as "write".

History of textual criticism

The first to systematically apply the critical marks of the Alexandrian critics was Origen:

"In the Septuagint column [Origen] used the system of diacritical marks which was in use with the Alexandrian critics of Homer, especially Aristarchus, marking with an obelus under different forms, as './.', called lemniscus, and '/.', called a hypolemniscus, those passages of the Septuagint which had nothing to correspond to in Hebrew, and inserting, chiefly from Theodotion under an asterisk (*), those which were missing in the Septuagint; in both cases a metobelus (Y) marked the end of the notation."

Early textual critics familiar with the use and meaning of these marks in classical Greek works like Homer, interpreted the signs to mean that the section (John 7:53–8:11) was an interpolation and not an original part of the Gospel.

During the 16th century, Western European scholars – both Catholic and Protestant – sought to recover the most correct Greek text of the New Testament, rather than relying on the Vulgate Latin translation. At this time, it was noticed that a number of early manuscripts containing the Gospel of John lacked John 7:53–8:11 inclusive; and also that some manuscripts containing the verses marked them with critical signs, usually a lemniscus or asterisk. It was also noted that, in the lectionary of the Greek church, the Gospel-reading for Pentecost runs from John 7:37 to 8:12, but skips over the twelve verses of this pericope.

Beginning with Karl Lachmann (in Germany, 1840), reservations about the Pericope Adulterae became more strongly argued in the modern period, and these opinions were carried into the English world by Samuel Davidson (1848–51), Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1862), and others; the argument against the verses being given body and final expression in F. J. A. Hort (1886). Those opposing the authenticity of the verses as part of John are represented in the 20th century by men like Henry Cadbury (1917), Ernest Cadman Colwell (1935), and Bruce M. Metzger (1971).

According to 19th-century text critics Henry Alford and F. H. A. Scrivener the passage was added by John in a second edition of the Gospel along with 5:3.4 and the 21st chapter.

On the other hand, a number of scholars have strongly defended the Johannine authorship of these verses. This group of critics is typified by such scholars as Frederick Nolan (1865), and John Burgon (1886), and Herman C. Hoskier (1920). More recently it has been defended by David Otis Fuller (1975), and is included in the Greek New Testaments compiled by Wilbur Pickering (1980/2014), Hodges & Farstad (1982/1985), and Robinson & Pierpont (2005). Rather than endorsing Augustine's theory that some men had removed the passage due to a concern that it would be used by their wives as a pretext to commit adultery, Burgon proposed (but did not develop in detail) a theory that the passage had been lost due to a misunderstanding of a feature in the lection-system of the early church.

Almost all modern critical translations that include the pericope adulterae do so at John 7:53–8:11. Exceptions include the New English Bible and Revised English Bible, which relocate the pericope after the end of the Gospel. Most others enclose the pericope in brackets, or add a footnote mentioning the absence of the passage in the oldest witnesses (e.g., NRSV, NJB, NIV, GNT, NASB, ESV). Since the passage is accepted as canonical by Catholics, however, some Catholic editions of these critical translations will remove the brackets while retaining the footnote explanation of their uncertainty (e.g. RSV-CE/2CE and ESV-CE); others, like the NRSV-CE, nevertheless retain the brackets.

Textual history
The pericope does not occur in the Greek Gospel manuscripts from Egypt. The Pericope Adulterae is not in 𝔓66 or in 𝔓75, both of which have been assigned to the late 100s or early 200s, nor in two important manuscripts produced in the early or mid 300s, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. The first surviving Greek manuscript to contain the pericope is the Latin-Greek diglot Codex Bezae, produced in the 400s or 500s (but displaying a form of text which has affinities with "Western" readings used in the 100s and 200s). Codex Bezae is also the earliest surviving Latin manuscript to contain it. Out of 23 Old Latin manuscripts of John 7–8, seventeen contain at least part of the pericope, and represent at least three transmission-streams in which it was included.

Eastern Christianity
According to Eusebius of Caesarea (in his Ecclesiastical History, composed in the early 300s), Papias (c. AD 110) refers to a story of Jesus and a woman "accused of many sins" as being found in the Gospel of the Hebrews, which might refer to this passage or to one like it. However, according to the later writer Agapius of Hierapolis, Papias wrote a treatise on the Gospel of John, where he included the story within the Gospel itself. Possibly the earliest evidence for the existence of the pericope adulterae within the Gospel of John is from the 2nd century Protoevangelium of James, which contains the words "οὐδὲ ἐγὼ [κατα]κρίνω ὑμᾶς" (neither do I condemn you) in Greek, which are identical to the text of John 8:11. Other parallers between this story within Protoevangelium and the Johannine pericope adulterae include: (1) a is woman accused of adultery, (2) the accusation is made by the Jews, (3) the woman is brought by a crowd to stand before a religious figure, (4) the accused woman is presented to the judge for a ruling and (5) both accounts are a part of a "confrontation story". However, it is not certain if the author borrowed directly from the Gospel of John or from a now-unknown document such as the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

In the Syriac Didascalia Apostolorum, composed in the mid-200s, the author, in the course of instructing bishops to exercise a measure of clemency, states that a bishop who does not receive a repentant person would be doing wrong – "for you do not obey our Savior and our God, to do as He also did with her that had sinned, whom the elders set before Him, and leaving the judgment in His hands, departed. But He, the searcher of hearts, asked her and said to her, 'Have the elders condemned thee, my daughter?' She said to Him, 'No, Lord.' And He said unto her, 'Go your way; neither do I condemn thee.' In Him therefore, our Savior and King and God, be your pattern, O bishops." The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book II.24, composed c. 380, echoes the Didascalia Apostolorum, alongside a utilization of Luke 7:47. Further, Didymus the Blind (c. 313–398) states that "We find in certain gospels" an episode in which a woman was accused of a sin, and was about to be stoned, but Jesus intervened "and said to those who were about to cast stones, 'He who has not sinned, let him take a stone and throw it. If anyone is conscious in himself not to have sinned, let him take a stone and smite her.' And no one dared," and so forth. It is also shortly mentioned by the 6th century author of the Greek treatise "Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae". Among the early Greek attestations of the pericope adulterae are the 6th century canon tables found in the Monastery of Epiphanus in Egypt. Although fragmentary, the manuscript likely contained the story of the adulteress and contained its own section number. Evidence of its existence within some Egyptian manuscripts additionally comes from two ivory pyxides dated to around the 5th or 6th century, which depict the story of the adulteress.

Within the Syriac tradition, the anonymous author of the 6th century Syriac Chronicle, called Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor mentioned the translation of the pericope Adulterae into Aramaic from a Greek manuscript from Alexandria. The story of the adulteress is also found in manuscripts of the Palestinian Syriac Lectionary, including MS "A" (1030ad), MS "C" (1118ad) and MS "B" (1104ad).

An author by the name of "Nicon" wrote a treatise called "On the Impious Religion of the Vile Armenians", in which he argued that the Armenian Christians tried to remove the passage from their manuscripts. This has been often attributed to the 10th century author Nicon, however Wescott and Hort argued that it is a later 13th century Nicon. They argued that this writing was made in response to the claims of Vardan Areveltsi, who stated that Papias is responsible for the inclusion of the story in the Gospel of John. Later on, in the 12th century the passage was mentioned by Euthymius Zigabenus, who doubted the authenticity of the passage. However, his contemporary Eustathios of Thessaloniki commented on the passage as an authentic part of John's Gospel.

Western Christianity
The story of the adulteress was quoted by multiple Latin speaking early Christians, and appears within their quotations of the New Testament often. It is quoted by church fathers such as Hilary of Poitiers, Gregory the Great, Leo the Great, Ambrose, Ambrosiaster and Augustine among many others. However, it is not quoted by either Tertullian or Cyprian, which might imply that it was missing from their manuscripts. The story is present in the vast majority of Vetus Latina manuscripts and in all except one manuscript of the Latin Vulgate.

Pacian of Barcelona (bishop from 365 to 391), in the course of making a rhetorical challenge, opposes cruelty as he sarcastically endorses it: "O Novatians, why do you delay to ask an eye for an eye? [...] Kill the thief. Stone the petulant. Choose not to read in the Gospel that the Lord spared even the adulteress who confessed, when none had condemned her." Pacian was a contemporary of the scribes who made Codex Sinaiticus.

The writer known as Ambrosiaster, c. 370/380, mentioned the occasion when Jesus "spared her who had been apprehended in adultery." The unknown author of the composition "Apologia David" (thought by some analysts to be Ambrose, but more probably not) mentioned that people could be initially taken aback by the passage in which "we see an adulteress presented to Christ and sent away without condemnation." Later in the same composition he referred to this episode as a "lection" in the Gospels, indicating that it was part of the annual cycle of readings used in the church-services.

Peter Chrysologus, writing in Ravenna c. 450, clearly cited the Pericope Adulterae in his Sermon 115. Sedulius and Gelasius also clearly used the passage. Prosper of Aquitaine, and Quodvultdeus of Carthage, in the mid-400s, utilized the passage.

The Latin Vulgate Gospel of John, produced by Jerome in 383, was based on the Greek manuscripts which Jerome considered ancient exemplars at that time and which contained the passage. Jerome, writing around 417, reports that the Pericope Adulterae was found in its usual place in "many Greek and Latin manuscripts" in Rome and the Latin West. This is confirmed by some Latin Fathers of the 300s and 400s, including Ambrose of Milan, and Augustine of Hippo. The latter claimed that the passage may have been improperly excluded from some manuscripts in order to avoid the impression that Christ had sanctioned adultery:

"Certain persons of little faith, or rather enemies of the true faith, fearing, I suppose, lest their wives should be given impunity in sinning, removed from their manuscripts the Lord's act of forgiveness toward the adulteress, as if he who had said, Sin no more, had granted permission to sin."

Codex Fuldensis, which was produced in AD 546, and which, in the Gospels, features an unusual arrangement of the text that was found in an earlier document, contains the adulterae pericope, in the form in which it was written in the Vulgate. More significantly, Codex Fuldensis also preserves the chapter-headings of its earlier source-document (thought by some researchers to echo the Diatessaron produced by Tatian in the 170's), and the title of chapter 120 refers specifically to the woman taken in adultery.

The subject of Jesus's writing on the ground was fairly common in art, especially from the Renaissance onwards, with examples by artists including those a painting by Pieter Bruegel and a drawing by 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 theories about what Jesus would have written.

Manuscripts

Both the Novum Testamentum Graece (NA28) and the United Bible Societies (UBS4) provide critical text for the pericope, but mark this off with double square brackets, indicating that the Pericope Adulterae is regarded as a later addition to the text.

Various manuscripts treat, or include, the passage in a variety of ways. These can be categorised into those that exclude it entirely, those that exclude only a shortened version of the passage (including 7:53-8:2 but excluding 8:3-11), those that include only a shortened version of the passage (8:3–11), those that include the passage in full, those that question the passage, those that question only the shorter passage, those that relocate it to a different place within the Gospel of John, and those that mark it as having been added by a later hand.

 * 1) Exclude the passage: Papyri 66 (c. 200 or 4th century ) and 75 (early 3rd century or 4th century ); Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus (4th century), although Vaticanus includes umlauts at the end of 7:52, which some have argued to imply knowledge of the variant. Other manuscripts to lack it apparently include Alexandrinus and Ephraemi (5th), Codices Washingtonianus and Borgianus also from the 5th century, Athous Lavrensis (c. 800), Petropolitanus Purpureus, Macedoniensis, and Koridethi from the 9th century and Monacensis from the 10th; Uncials 0141 and 0211; Minuscules 3, 12, 15, 19, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 44, 49, 63, 72, 77, 87, 96, 106, 108, 123, 124, 131, 134, 139, 151, 154, 157, 168, 169, 209, 213, 228, 249, 261, 269, 297, 303, 306, 315, 316, 317, 318, 333, 370, 388, 391, 392, 397, 401, 416, 423, 428, 430, 431, 445, 496, 499, 501, 523, 537, 542, 554, 565, 578, 584, 649, 684, 703, 713, 719, 723, 727, 729, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734, 736, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 749, 768, 770, 772, 773, 776, 777, 780, 794, 799, 800, 817, 818, 819, 820, 821, 827, 828, 831, 833, 834, 835, 836, 841, 843, 849, 850, 854, 855, 857, 862, 863, 865, 869, 896, 989, 1077, 1080, 1141 1178, 1230, 1241, 1242, 1253, 1256, 1261, 1262, 1326, 1333, 1357, 1593, 2106, 2193, 2244, 2768, 2862, 2900, 2901, 2907, 2957, 2965 and 2985; the majority of lectionaries; some Old Latin, the majority of the Syriac, the Sahidic dialect of the Coptic, the Garima Gospels and other Ethiopic witnesses, the Gothic, some Armenian, Georgian mss. of Adysh (9th century); Arabic mss of Diatessaron (2nd century); apparently Clement of Alexandria (died 215), other Church Fathers namely Tertullian (died 220), Origen (died 254), Cyprian (died 258), John Chrysostom (died 407), Nonnus (died 431), Cyril of Alexandria (died 444), Cosmas (died 550) and later Christians such as Vardan Araveltsi (13th century).
 * 2) Shorter passage excluded (includes 7:53-8:2 but excludes 8:3-11): 228, 759, 1458, 1663, and 2533.
 * 3) Shorter passage included (8:3–11): ℓ 4, ℓ 67, ℓ 69, ℓ 70, ℓ 71, ℓ 75, ℓ 81, ℓ 89, ℓ 90, ℓ 98, ℓ 101, ℓ 107, ℓ 125, ℓ 126, ℓ 139, ℓ 146, ℓ 185, ℓ 211, ℓ 217, ℓ 229, ℓ 267, ℓ 280, ℓ 282, ℓ 287, ℓ 376, ℓ 381, ℓ 386, ℓ 390, ℓ 396, ℓ 398, ℓ 402, ℓ 405, ℓ 409, ℓ 417, ℓ 422, ℓ 430, ℓ 431, ℓ 435 (8:2–11), ℓ 462, ℓ 464, ℓ 465, ℓ 520 (8:2–11).
 * 4) Include passage: the Latin Vulgate (4th century), Codex Bezae (5th century), Uncial 047 (8th century), Uncial 0233 (8th century), 9th century Codices Boreelianus, Seidelianus I, Seidelianus II, Cyprius, Campianus, Nanianus, also Tischendorfianus IV from the 10th, Codex Petropolitanus; Minuscule 28, 318, 700, 892, 1009, 1010, 1071, 1079, 1195, 1216, 1344, 1365, 1546, 1646, 2148, 2174; the Byzantine majority text (around 1350 manuscripts); ℓ 79, ℓ 100 (John 8:1–11), ℓ 118, ℓ 130 (8:1–11), ℓ 221, ℓ 274, ℓ 281, ℓ 411, ℓ 421, ℓ 429 (8:1–11), ℓ 442 (8:1–11), ℓ 445 (8:1–11), ℓ 459; the majority of the Old Latin: Codex Palatinus (5th century), Codex Corbeiensis (5th century), Codex Veronesis (5th century), Codex Sarzanensis (5th century), Codex Usserianus Primus (7th century), Book of Mulling (8th century), Codex Sangermanensis secundus (10th century), Codex Colbertinus (12th century), Western witnesses to the Diatessaron (Codex Fuldensis, Liège Harmony, Codex Sangallensis), the Greek canon tables of the Monastery of Saint Epiphanius (6th century), Palestinian Syriac lectionaries, some of the Coptic such as Codex Marshall Or. 5 (14th century) also depicted by early Coptic ivory pyxides (5th-6th century), some Armenian (Echmiadzin Gospels), possibly alluded to by the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century), explicitly mentioned by the Didascalia (3rd century), Didymus the Blind (4th century), Hilary of Poitiers (4th century), Apostolic Constitutions (4th century) Ambrosiaster (4th century), Pacian (4th century), Rufinus of Aquileia (4th century), Ambrose (died 397), Jerome (died 420), Augustine (died 430), Peter Chrysologus (5th century), Quodvultdeus of Carthage (5th century), Prosper of Aquitane (5th century), Leo the Great (5th century), Sedulius (5th century), Gelasius (5th century), Pseudo-Athanasius (6th century), Cassiodorus (6th century), Gregory the Great (6th century), Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor (6th century), Agapius of Hierapolis (10th century), Nicon (10th century), Dionysius bar Salibi (12th century) and Eustathius of Thessalonica (12th century).
 * 5) Question pericope (marked with asterisks (※), obeli (÷), dash (–) or (<)): Codex Vaticanus 354 (S) and the Minuscules 18, 24, 35, 045, 83, 95 (questionable scholion), 109, 125, 141, 148, 156, 161, 164, 165, 166, 167, 178, 179, 200, 201, 202, 285, 338, 348, 363, 367, 376, 386, 392, 407, 478, 479, 510, 532, 547, 553, 645, 655, 656, 661, 662, 685, 699, 757, 758, 763, 769, 781, 789, 797, 801, 824, 825, 829, 844, 845, 867, 897, 922, 1073, 1092 (later hand), 1187, 1189, 1280, 1443, 1445, 2099, and 2253 include entire pericope from 7:53; the menologion of Lectionary 185 includes 8:1ff; Codex Basilensis (E) includes 8:2ff; Codex Tischendorfianus III (Λ) and Petropolitanus (П) also the menologia of Lectionaries ℓ 86, ℓ 211, ℓ 1579 and ℓ 1761 include 8:3ff. Minuscule 807 is a manuscript with a Catena, but only in John 7:53–8:11 without catena. It is a characteristic of late Byzantine manuscripts conforming to the sub-type Family K$r$, that this pericope is marked with obeli; although Maurice Robinson argues that these marks are intended to remind lectors that these verses are to be omitted from the Gospel lection for Pentecost, not to question the authenticity of the passage. The originality of the story was questioned by Euthymius Zigabenus (12th century).
 * 6) Shorter passage questioned (8:3–11, marked with asterisks (※), obeli (÷) or (<)): 4, 8, 14, 443, 689, 707, 781, 873, 1517. (8:2-11) Codex Basilensis A. N. III. 12 (E) (8th century),
 * 7) Relocate passage: Family 1, minuscules 20, 37, 135, 207, 301, 347, and nearly all Armenian translations place the pericope after John 21:25; Family 13 place it after Luke 21:38; a corrector to Minuscule 1333 added 8:3–11 after Luke 24:53; and Minuscule 225 includes the pericope after John 7:36. Minuscule 129, 135, 259, 470, 564, 1076, 1078, and 1356 place John 8:3–11 after John 21:25. 788 and Minuscule 826 placed pericope after Luke 21:38. 115, 552, 1349, and 2620 placed pericope after John 8:12.
 * 8) Added by a later hand: Codex Ebnerianus, Codex Rehdigeranus, 19, 284, 431, 391, 461, 470, 501 (8:3-11), 578, 794, 1141, 1357, 1593, 2174, 2244, 2860, MS 14470 (added in the 9th century by a later scribe).
 * 9) Lacuna: Codex Regius (8th century) and Codex Sangallensis (9th century) contain a large gap after John 7:52, thus indicating knowledge of the passage despite being omitted.

The Pericope Adulterae was never read as a part of the lesson for the Pentecost cycle, but John 8:3–8:11 was reserved for the festivals of such saints as Theodora, 18 September, or Pelagia, 8 October.

Arguments against Johannine authorship
Bishop J. B. Lightfoot wrote that absence of the passage from the earliest manuscripts, combined with the occurrence of stylistic characteristics atypical of John, together implied that the passage was an interpolation. Nevertheless, he considered the story to be authentic history. As a result, based on Eusebius' mention that the writings of Papias contained a story "about a woman falsely accused before the Lord of many sins" (H.E. 3.39), he argued that this section originally was part of Papias' Interpretations of the Sayings of the Lord, and included it in his collection of Papias' fragments. Bart D. Ehrman concurs in Misquoting Jesus, adding that the passage contains many words and phrases otherwise alien to John's writing. The evangelical Bible scholar Daniel B. Wallace agrees with Ehrman.

There are several excerpts from Papias that confirm this: Fragment 1: And he relates another story of a woman, who was accused of many sins before the Lord, which is contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. These things we have thought it necessary to observe in addition to what has been already stated. Fragment 2: "And there was at that time in Menbij [Hierapolis] a distinguished master who had many treatises, and he wrote five treatises on the Gospel. And he mentions in his treatise on the Gospel of John, that in the book of John the Evangelist, he speaks of a woman who was adulterous, so when they presented her to Christ our Lord, to whom be glory, He told the Jews who brought her to Him, “Whoever of you knows that he is innocent of what she has done, let him testify against her with what he has.” So when He told them that, none of them responded with anything and they left." Fragment 3: "The story of that adulterous woman, which other Christians have written in their gospel, was written about by a certain Papias, a student of John, who was declared a heretic and condemned. Eusebius wrote about this. There are laws and that matter which Pilate, the king of the Jews, wrote of. And it is said that he wrote in Hebrew with Latin and Greek above it."

However, Michael W. Holmes says that it is not certain "that Papias knew the story in precisely this form, inasmuch as it now appears that at least two independent stories about Jesus and a sinful woman circulated among Christians in the first two centuries of the church, so that the traditional form found in many New Testament manuscripts may well represent a conflation of two independent shorter, earlier versions of the incident." Kyle R. Hughes has argued that one of these earlier versions is in fact very similar in style, form, and content to the Lukan special material (the so-called "L" source), suggesting that the core of this tradition is in fact rooted in very early Christian (though not Johannine) memory.

Arguments for Johannine authorship
The story of the adulteress has been defended by those who teach the Byzantine priority theory and also by those who defend the superiority of the Textus Receptus. Among these, Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad argue for Johannine authorship of the pericope. They suggest there are points of similarity between the pericope's style and the style of the rest of the gospel. They claim that the details of the encounter fit very well into the context of the surrounding verses. They argue that the pericope's appearance in the majority of manuscripts, if not in the oldest ones, is evidence of its authenticity. Maurice Robinson argued that the anomalies in the transmission of the Pericope Adulterae may be explained by the Lectionary system, where due to the Pericope Adulterae being skipped during the Pentecost lesson, some scribes would relocate the story to not interviene with the flow of the Pentecost lesson. He also argued that mistakes arising from the Lectionary system are able to explain the omission of the story in some manuscripts.

Status in the Bible
According to Armin Baum, "the question of the [Pericope Adulterae]'s canonicity does not follow automatically from a literary historical judgment about its origin." The Catholic Church regards it as canonical, following the precepts of the Council of Trent. Many Protestants, however, reject it as non-canonical. From a Protestant point of view, Baum argues that its canonicity can be "determined according to the same historical and content-related criteria that the ancient church applied during the development of the canon of Scriptures." He further argues, however, that it should be separated from the Gospel of John.

Art and culture
The story is the subject of several paintings, including:

 * Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565)
 * Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery by Peter Paul Rubens (1614)
 * The Woman Taken in Adultery by Rembrandt (1644)
 * Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery by Mattia Preti (c. 1650)
 * Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery (He That Is Without Sin?) by Vasily Polenov (1888)
 * Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery by Max Beckmann (1917)
 * Christ with the Adulteress by Han van Meegeren (1942), but sold as an original Vermeer

Variations of the story are told in the 1986 science fiction novel Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card, as part of Letters to an Incipient Heretic by the character San Angelo.

Chinese distortion
In September 2020, the Chinese textbook《职业道德与法律》(Professional Ethics and Law) was alleged to inaccurately recount the story with a changed narrative in which Jesus stones the woman, while claiming to be a sinner:

The publisher claims that this was an inauthentic, unauthorized publication of its textbook.

title: Jesus and the woman taken in adultery


text:
Pericope

In rhetoric, a pericope (Greek περικοπή, "a cutting-out") is a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, suitable for public reading from a text, now usually of sacred scripture.

Description
The term can also be used as a way to identify certain themes in a chapter of sacred text. Its importance is mainly felt in, but not limited to, narrative portions of Sacred Scripture (as well as poetic sections).

Manuscripts—often illuminated—called pericopes, are normally evangeliaries, that is, abbreviated Gospel Books only containing the sections of the Gospels required for the Masses of the liturgical year. Notable examples, both Ottonian, are the Pericopes of Henry II and the Salzburg Pericopes.

Lectionaries are normally made up of pericopes containing the Epistle and Gospel readings for the liturgical year. A pericope consisting of passages from different parts of a single book, or from different books of the Bible, and linked together into a single reading is called a concatenation or composite reading.

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title: Pericope


text:
The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American-Canadian vigilante action thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy in his feature directorial debut. Starring Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco, and Billy Connolly, the film follows Irish fraternal twin brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus (Flanery and Reedus), who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian mafia in self defense. After both experience an epiphany, the twins, together with their best friend "Funny Man" Rocco (Rocco), set out on a mission to rid Boston of the criminal underworld in the name of God, all the while being pursued by FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Dafoe).

Duffy, who had never written a screenplay before, said he was inspired by personal experience while living with his brother Taylor in Los Angeles. Initially regarded as one of the hottest scripts in Hollywood, the film had a troubled production. Miramax Films dropped the project in 1997 before Franchise Pictures acquired the rights the following year. Principal photography began in Boston and Toronto on August 10, 1998, and concluded on September 26.

The theatrical release of The Boondock Saints was significantly affected by the Columbine High School massacre, which had taken place just two weeks before test screenings. Amidst concerns that the film would inspire copycat crimes, it was given a limited release in only five theaters across the United States on January 21, 2000. Consequently, the film was a box office failure and received negative reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at its perceived glorification of vigilante justice and violence. Despite this, The Boondock Saints became a cult classic through word of mouth and its home video release, ultimately grossing $50 million in sales.

A successful 2006 theatrical rerelease lead to a sequel, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009), with Flanery, Reedus, Connolly, and Rocco reprising their roles, and Dafoe making an uncredited cameo appearance. Overnight (2003), a documentary about the making of the film, was also released. A third film is currently in development, with Flanery and Reedus expected to return.

Plot
In Boston, Irish American fraternal twin brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus attend Mass, where the priest mentions the fate of Kitty Genovese. Later, while Connor and Murphy are celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with friends, three Russian mobsters arrive and try to shut down the pub so they can demolish it for the valuable land underneath. Despite Connor and Murphy's attempt to talk them down, a brawl ensues, in which the Russians are defeated and humiliated. The next morning, when two of the Russians seek revenge, the brothers beat them to death in self-defense.

FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker is assigned to the case and finds that the police and the press see the MacManus twins as heroes. The duo turn themselves in at a police station, where Smecker interviews them. After the twins retell their incident to Smecker, he declines to press charges and allows them to spend the night in a holding cell to avoid attention from the media. That night, they receive a "calling" from God telling them to hunt down wicked men so that the innocent will flourish.

Connor learns that a local hotel is hosting a meeting of the Russian mob. Having equipped themselves with weaponry from an underground gun dealer, the twins kill nine Russian mobsters, while Rocco, a friend of the twins and errand boy for local mafia boss Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta, surprises them after being sent by his boss to carry out a hit. Realizing that he was set up, Rocco agrees to help Connor and Murphy. That night, they hunt down and kill Vincenzo Lapazzi, Papa Joe's underboss, at a peep show.

Falsely believing that Rocco is behind the murders, Papa Joe hires the legendary hitman, "Il Duce", to deal with the problem. Rocco takes revenge on his former crew and convinces the twins to shoot up a gambling den so he can execute a criminal he was once forced to assist in a heinous crime. The three men are then ambushed by Il Duce. Although they manage to escape, the three men suffer serious wounds, including the loss of Rocco's finger.

Hours later, as the police secure the crime scene, the investigation seems futile since the twins covered their tracks by spraying any blood left behind with ammonia. However, Smecker happens upon Rocco's finger and analyzes it, eventually tracing the clues back to Rocco and his allies. This leaves Smecker in a difficult conundrum; he struggles with the choice of whether to prosecute the three men or join them in their cause as he believes they are doing the right thing. After getting drunk at a gay bar and subsequently taking advice from a reluctant priest, Smecker decides to help the trio.

Later, the twins and Rocco inform Smecker that they plan to assassinate Papa Joe at his mansion, but Smecker learns that they are walking into a trap. The twins are captured, and Rocco is shot and killed by Papa Joe. As Papa Joe leaves, Smecker arrives in drag and tries to rescue them before being knocked unconscious by Il Duce. While the twins say their family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce enters the room and prepares to open fire. However, he instead finishes the prayer – revealing he is the twins' father and deciding to join his sons in their mission.

Three months later, Papa Joe is on trial for the third time. However, the reporters on-scene anticipate his acquittal. The twins and Il Duce, aided by Smecker, Dolly, Duffy and Greenly, infiltrate the courthouse and take the spectators hostage. Unmasked, they make a speech stating that they intend to eradicate evil wherever they find it before reciting their family prayer and publicly executing Papa Joe. The media dubs the three as "the Saints".

Cast

 * Willem Dafoe as Paul Smecker, a brilliant but emotionally troubled FBI special agent assigned to the murders linked to the MacManus twins.
 * Sean Patrick Flanery as Connor MacManus, one-half of the MacManus twins. He has a tattoo on his left hand that reads "Veritas" ("truth" in Latin). He is more sensible and rational than his brother, and often tries to carefully plan out their missions; however, he usually and foolishly bases his plans on the plots of classic action movies. Connor frequently references John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Charles Bronson.
 * Norman Reedus as Murphy MacManus, the other half of the MacManus twins. He has a tattoo on his right hand that reads "Aequitas" ("justice/equality" in Latin). He seems to be the more emotional and hot-headed of the two; however, Murphy is usually shown to be exasperated by his brother's inept planning and displays a stronger sense of adaptability and cool headedness in difficult situations.
 * David Della Rocco as David 'The Funny Man' Della Rocco, a henchman of the Yakavetta clan until Papa Joe sets him up to be killed, and a loyal friend of the MacManus twins.
 * Billy Connolly as Noah 'Il Duce' MacManus, the father of Connor and Murphy and a famous mob assassin. He is released from prison by Yakavetta to confront the twins and Rocco, only to assist the twins after learning who they are.
 * Bob Marley as Detective David Greenly, a marginally competent Boston Police Department detective assigned to the gang murders.
 * David Ferry as Detective "Dolly" Alapopskalius, a detective partnered with Greenly and Duffy.
 * Brian Mahoney as Detective Duffy, a detective partnered with Greenly and Dolly.
 * Richard Fitzpatrick as The Chief of the Boston Police Department.
 * Carlo Rota as Giuseppe 'Papa Joe' Yakavetta, a leader of a powerful mafia in Boston.
 * Ron Jeremy as Vincenzo Lapazzi, Yakavetta's right-hand man.
 * Carmen DiStefano as Augustus DiStephano, a retired mobster who helps Papa Joe get Il Duce out of prison. He is secretly one of Smecker's informants.
 * Gerard Parkes as "Doc" McGinty, the owner of an Irish-themed pub who has Tourette syndrome with coprolalia.
 * Tom Barnett as the Irish gun dealer who supplies the Saints with guns.
 * Lauren Piech as Donna, Rocco's junkie girlfriend.
 * Gina Sorell as Rayvie, Donna's junkie friend.
 * Dick Callahan as Sal, a restaurant owner and associate of the Yakavetta family. He is killed by Rocco in anger over his set-up.
 * Angelo Tucci as Vinnie, Rocco's associate and one of his victims.
 * Sergio Di Zio as Oly, Rocco's associate who also winds up dead at his hands.
 * Kevin Chapman as Chappy, one of Papa Joe's caporegimes.
 * Markus Parilo as Sick Mob Man, a professional cleaner of the Yakavetta syndicate and a victim of the Saints.
 * Layton Morrison as Vladdy, a Russian Mafia soldier slain by Connor.
 * Scott Griffith as Ivan Checkov, a Russian Mafia soldier who is also killed by Connor.
 * Viktor Pedtchenko as Yuri Petrov, the Russian Mafia boss who becomes the first high-profile mobster to be executed by the Saints.
 * Troy Duffy as Man In Bar On St. Patrick's Day.

Production
Troy Duffy's screenplay was inspired by his disgust at seeing a drug dealer taking money from a corpse across the hall from his apartment. Duffy, who was working as a bartender and bouncer, had never written a screenplay before.

Duffy completed the screenplay in fall of 1996 and passed it to a producer's assistant at New Line Cinema to be read by a senior executive. The screenplay changed hands through multiple studios and Duffy was approached by multiple producers for the rights. In March 1997, he was contracted by Paramount Pictures for $500,000, and later in the month, Miramax Films won a bidding war to buy The Boondock Saints. The studio offered $450,000 to Duffy to write and direct the film. The documentary Overnight (2003), which chronicled Duffy's "rags-to-riches-to-rags" story, showed that the script was worth $300,000, and the film itself was originally given a $15 million budget by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein. Duffy's band The Brood would do the soundtrack, and as a bonus, Miramax offered to buy and throw in co-ownership of J. Sloan's, where Duffy worked. Overnight showed that Duffy frequently exhibited abrasive behavior, causing tension for many people involved in the project. Filming of The Boondock Saints was scheduled for the coming autumn in Boston.

Casting and funding
Duffy sought to cast Stephen Dorff and Mark Wahlberg as the brothers, though Wahlberg passed for Boogie Nights (1997). The director also wanted to cast Billy Connolly and Kenneth Branagh in the film, with Branagh playing FBI Agent Paul Smecker. Duffy also expressed interest in casting Brendan Fraser, Nicky Katt, and Ewan McGregor, with two of them as the brothers, but no decisions were finalized. The director later sought Patrick Swayze to play Smecker, but Miramax preferred Sylvester Stallone (with whom the studio had an existing relationship), Bill Murray, or Mike Myers. Kevin Spacey and Robert De Niro were also considered for the role of Smecker. Before pre-production work was supposed to begin in Boston in December 1997, Miramax pulled out of the project. Producer Lloyd Segan said that the project had stalled because of casting and location problems. While Duffy was able to keep the writer's fee of $300,000, the studio required the reimbursement of the $150,000 director's fee and the $700,000 advance to develop the project.

The independent studio Franchise Pictures sought to finance the project once other elements were in place. Duffy approached Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus to play the brothers, and Willem Dafoe to play the FBI agent. Having found someone to back the film, filming began in Toronto, with the final scenes being filmed in Boston. The name of Duffy's band, The Brood, was changed to The Boondock Saints, following the movie's release. The film featured two songs from the band: "Holy Fool", which played during Rocco's tavern shootout, and "Pipes", which played during the credits.

Release
The Boondock Saints had a very limited theatrical release through Indican Pictures showing the film in 2000 on only five screens in the United States for several weeks. However, the original unrated version of the film was later re-released in theaters on May 22, 2006. Duffy later funded screenings of the film with help from Blockbuster Video. "Indican Pictures and Blockbuster saved us [...] They agreed to take it on exclusively, and from there the rest is history." According to Troy Duffy on his audio commentary of the film on DVD, the film's distributor allowed the limited screening in the United States because of the then-recent Columbine High School massacre and the pending Blockbuster exclusive. The film was shown on major foreign screens (most notably in Japan) with success. Blockbuster released The Boondock Saints as a "Blockbuster Exclusive", a collection of independent direct-to-video films. The Boondock Saints gained a following mostly due to word-of-mouth publicity and was a bestseller when released on DVD. Despite its success, Duffy and Indican Pictures never saw any of the profits from DVD distribution, having signed away the DVD rights to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment as part of the settlement with Franchise Pictures. According to Duffy, neither he, his producers, nor his principal cast got paid. He sued Franchise Pictures and other undisclosed companies for royalties of the first film and rights to the sequel. After a lengthy lawsuit, Troy Duffy, his producers, and the principal cast received an undisclosed amount of The Boondock Saints royalties, as well as the sequel rights.

Home media
The Boondock Saints has been released numerous times on DVD, including an import on March 13, 2001, and an uncut Japanese release published by Toshiba Entertainment, whose special features include anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary, trailers, and interviews with the Japanese media. On May 23, 2006, The Boondock Saints Collector's Edition was published and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on DVD, as well as Universal Media Disc for the PlayStation Portable. The special features include English and Spanish subtitles, commentary by Billy Connolly and Troy Duffy, deleted scenes, and outtakes. It also featured the film's trailer, cast and crew filmographies, and a printable script of the film. 20th Century Fox and Duffy showed an interest in doing a new audio commentary for the special release, but he was unable to because of unresolved legal issues.

Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 26% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's consensus calls the film, "A juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worst tendencies of directors channeling Tarantino." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club described the film, in his review of the DVD, as "less a proper action-thriller" than "a series of gratuitously violent setpieces strung together with only the sketchiest semblance of a plot". Rabin went on to describe the film as "all style and no substance, a film so gleeful in its endorsement of vigilante justice that it almost veers (or ascends) into self-parody." Robert Koehler of Variety wrote in his review: "A belated entry in the hipster crime movie movement that began with Reservoir Dogs, Troy Duffy's Boondock Saints mixes blood and Catholic-tinged vigilante justice in excessive portions for sometimes wacky and always brutal effect. [The film is] more interested in finding fresh ways to stage execution scenes than in finding meaning behind the human urge for self-appointed righting of wrongs."

Koehler also described Flanery and Reedus as "curiously stolid and blank", while praising supporting actors Connolly, Dafoe, and Rota for making the most of their screen time. Koehler also praised the tech personnel: "This uneven exercise in pacing and cutting is abetted by an eclectic score by Jeff Danna and whiz lensing by Adam Kane. Other tech credits fire bull's-eyes."

Film critics have taken note of the film's extreme violence and "slow-motion bloodletting".

Box office
In its original run, the film only earned $30,471 at five theaters. It later developed a cult following and has grossed about $50 million in domestic video sales.

Documentary
The documentary film Overnight was released in 2003, following the story of Troy Duffy during his negotiations with Miramax over The Boondock Saints script, as well as his band's struggles to secure a recording contract. Duffy's abrasive behavior strained his relationships with friends and people in the film industry and ultimately led to Miramax pulling out of the project, leaving the film to be made by another studio at half the originally proposed budget.

Sequels
After numerous delays, Troy Duffy shot a sequel, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, in which the MacManus twins return to Boston in order to continue their reign of vengeance. It was released October 30, 2009.

In an October 27, 2009, article, director Duffy and actor Connolly mention details regarding a possible third film. They maintained that "it is slowly in the works and is still just an idea". Duffy insists that he wants to get a few more of his films done before returning to the Boondock Saints. Duffy also added that the proposed working title for the third film would be called "Boondock Saints III: Saints Preserve Us".

Again, on February 26, 2013, Duffy stated that he was getting together with Reedus and Flanery to resume talks about The Boondock Saints 3, in hopes that they could make the film a reality for fans.

As of July 2013, Duffy has confirmed in an interview that he is working on the script for the third film, and possibly a TV series, later named as The Boondock Saints: Origins.

On September 3, 2014, the third film, subtitled Legion, was revealed to be in pre-production.

In 2017, Flanery tweeted that he and Reedus had walked away from The Boondock Saints 3. While he did not elaborate on much, he suggested that the "unethical" production of the project caused their departure.

In November 2021, a third Boondock Saints film was officially announced, with Reedus and Flanery reprising their roles as Connor and Murphy MacManus and Duffy returning to direct. Production was slated to begin in May 2022. In March 2024, Thunder Road Films, Dragonfly Films and Impossible Dream Entertainment announced a "reimagining" of the franchise, with Reedus and Flanery reprising their roles and serving as executive producers, although Duffy would not return as director.

Comic book
A two-part comic-book story, serving as a companion to the movie sequel, was released in May 2010. The series is written by Troy Duffy, produced by Innfusion Inc., and released through 12 Gauge Comics. The book focuses on a more in-depth version of Il Duce's back story, as well as telling the story of the brothers during a hit they performed that is not featured in the film. It was paired with a minibook that was featured on the official Boondock Saints website that told a ministory that takes place before the strip-club scene from the first film. These will eventually be released in one single graphic novel. The Boondock Saints: In Nomine Patris was written with J.B. Love and published in November 2011.

Video game
A video game was supposed to be made based on the film, but was later cancelled. The characters of Connor and Murphy would feature in the side scroller Broforce, which released in 2015.

title: The Boondock Saints


text:
The Dells

The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1953 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Michael and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first recording in 1954 and two years later had their first R&B hit with "Oh What a Night". After disbanding due to a near-fatal car crash in 1958, the band re-formed in 1960 with Funches being replaced by Johnny Carter. This lineup remained together until Carter's death in 2009. In 2004 the Dells were inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The group performed until illness forced longtime lead singer Marvin Junior and bass vocalist Chuck Barksdale into retirement, ending the group's 60-year run.

Early career
The Dells grew up in Harvey, Illinois, and began singing together while attending Thornton Township High School. Forming in 1952 under the name the El-Rays, the group initially consisted of Marvin Junior, Michael McGill, Lucius McGill, Verne Allison, Chuck Barksdale, and Johnny Funches. Lucius McGill soon left the group and the remaining quintet signed with Checker Records, releasing their first single, "Darling I Know", which flopped.

In 1955, the group renamed themselves the Dells and signed with Vee-Jay Records. In 1956, they recorded their first hit, "Oh, What a Night" (a song co-written by Johnny Funches, who also sang lead on the recording alongside Marvin Junior), which hit the top 5 of the R&B singles chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The song is ranked No. 260 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In November 1958, the Dells suffered a car accident that left McGill in a hospital in Ohio for six months. The group temporarily disbanded and Barksdale sang as a member of Harvey Fuqua's spinoff Moonglows act, Harvey and the Moonglows, which included a young Marvin Gaye. In 1961, the Dells reunited and auditioned for Dinah Washington. After Washington agreed to hire them, Johnny Funches left the group to take care of his family. Funches was replaced by Flamingos founding member Johnny Carter and sang background for Washington for two years. In 1966, they were hired to open for Ray Charles, only to be fired after a performance resulted in several standing ovations. The group would also sing background for Barbara Lewis, mainly on Lewis' 1963 hit, "Hello Stranger", while also working with Quincy Jones, who helped to fine-tune their vocals for standards and jazz material.

Successful years
In 1966, the Dells returned to Chess under the label's Cadet subsidiary working with Bobby Miller and future Earth, Wind & Fire arranger Charles Stepney. In 1967, the Dells issued the album There Is which included their first R&B chart-topper in years with the title track, which showcased the sharp baritone of Marvin Junior and the harmonies with the four other Dells. The song was also their first top 20 pop hit.

Subsequent R&B hits included "Wear It on Our Face", "Always Together" (top 20 pop), "I Can Sing a Rainbow - Love is Blue (medley)" (UK No. 15), and their first No. 1 R&B hit and first top ten pop hit, 1968's "Stay in My Corner", which reached No. 10 on the pop chart and showcased both Carter and Marvin in lead vocals. In the following year, 1969, The Dells' soulful remake of their debut hit, "Oh What a Night" gave the group their second chart-topping R&B single and also reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. For a second time, the song sold over a million copies. Subsequent hits included "Open Up My Heart", "Oh What a Day", and "On the Dock of the Bay". In 1971, the Dells' "The Love We Had Stays on My Mind" became another top ten hit on the R&B chart, also reaching the pop top 30. By this time Charles Stepney had taken over production duties from Bobby Miller. 1973's "Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation" was their third certified gold record. The song was written by L.V. Johnson and produced by Don Davis.

Later years
Leaving Cadet around the end of 1974 with the parent company in financial difficulties, the group would continue recording in order under the Mercury, ABC, and Virgin labels finding some hits, including 1980's "I Touched a Dream", which returned the group to the top 40 on the R&B chart. The Dells were confined mostly to the oldies market afterwards until they were asked to be creative consultants to Robert Townsend's acclaimed 1991 film, The Five Heartbeats, which was loosely based on the lives of The Dells and other groups of its era. The group recorded a composition titled "A Heart Is a House for Love". The song reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart, making them only one of two groups to have hit singles in five decades. The following year, signing with PIR, they released the album, I Salute You. The Dells continued performing and recording sporadically in the early years of the new millennium. In 2004, the group were inducted to both the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2022 into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. The group continued performing until 2012.

Losses
Original Dells vocalist Johnny Funches died of pneumonia on January 23, 1998, at the age of 62.

Johnny Carter died of cancer on August 21, 2009, at the age of 75. Carter is one of the few artists to be a double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, having been inducted with The Flamingos in 2001, and the Dells in 2004.

On May 29, 2013, founding member Marvin Junior died in his sleep at his home in Harvey, Illinois, succumbing to complications of kidney failure and a weak heart at the age of 77.

Chuck Barksdale died on May 15, 2019, at the age of 84.

Members

 * Marvin Junior (born Marvin Curtis Junior, January 31, 1936, Harrell, Arkansas – May 29, 2013) - lead baritone, lead vocals (1952-1958, 1960–2012)
 * Verne Allison (b. June 22, 1936, Chicago) - second tenor, background vocals (1952-1958, 1960-2012)
 * Michael McGill (b. February 17, 1937, Chicago) - baritone, background vocals (1952–1958, 1960-2012)
 * Chuck Barksdale (born Charles Barksdale, January 11, 1935 – May 15, 2019) - bass, background vocals (1952–1958, 1960-2012)
 * Johnny Funches (July 18, 1935, Chicago – January 23, 1998) - first tenor, lead vocals (1952–58, 1960-1961)
 * Lucius McGill (b. 1935, Chicago) - second tenor, background vocals (1952–54)
 * Johnny Carter (June 2, 1934, Chicago – August 21, 2009) - first tenor/falsetto, lead vocals (1961–2009)

Awards

 * Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Inducted 2004)
 * Vocal Group Hall of Fame (Inducted 2004)
 * Rhythm & Blues Foundation "Pioneer Award" (Awarded 1992)
 * NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award (Awarded 1992)

title: The Dells


text:
M5

M5, M-5, M.5, M-V, or M05 may refer to:

Automobiles

 * AITO M5, a Chinese mid-size crossover SUV
 * BMW M5, a German mid-size performance car series
 * Dongfeng Fengxing Lingzhi M5, a Chinese MPV
 * Haima M5, a Chinese compact sedan
 * JAC Refine M5, a Chinese MPV
 * Studebaker M5, an American pickup truck

Aviation and aerospace

 * M-5 rocket, a Japanese rocket
 * Macchi M.5, an Italian flying boat fighter in service from 1917 until the mid-1920s
 * Miles M.5 Sparrowhawk, a 1930s British single-seat racing and touring monoplane
 * Fokker M.5, a 1913 unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft
 * Grigorovich M-5, a Russian World War I-era biplane flying boat
 * Kenmore Air (IATA airline designator: M5), a small airline based in the United States

Military

 * M5 Stuart, a variant of the Stuart tank, a World War II-era American light tank
 * M5 Half-track, a variant of the M3 Half-track military armored personnel carrier
 * M5 Tractor, World War II-era artillery-towing tractor
 * M5 Bomb Trailer, a U.S. vehicle for transporting bombs to airplanes
 * M5 Bayonet
 * Brixia M.5, an Italian 7.92x57mm caliber light machine gun
 * 3 inch Gun M5, a U.S. Army anti-tank gun
 * MSwMS M5, a Swedish Navy minesweeper 1940-1955
 * M5 firing device, a trigger commonly used in Booby traps
 * M7 Next Generation Squad Weapon, the future designation for the SIG MCX Spear, formerly known as the XM5

Roads and routes

 * M5 (New York City bus), a New York City Bus route in Manhattan
 * M5 motorway, England
 * M5 (East London), a Metropolitan Route in East London, South Africa
 * M5 (Cape Town), a Metropolitan Route in Cape Town, South Africa
 * M5 (Johannesburg), a Metropolitan Route in Johannesburg, South Africa
 * M5 (Pretoria), a Metropolitan Route in Pretoria, South Africa
 * M5 (Durban), a Metropolitan Route in Durban, South Africa
 * M5 (Port Elizabeth), a Metropolitan Route in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
 * M5 road (Zambia), a short road in Mufulira, Zambia
 * M5 Motorway (Sydney), in Sydney, Australia
 * Metroad 5 (Brisbane), Brisbane, Australia, comprising the M5 Centenary Freeway and M5 Western Freeway
 * M5 motorway (Northern Ireland)
 * M5 motorway (Hungary)
 * M5 (Malawi)
 * M-5 (Michigan highway), a state highway in the Detroit area
 * M05 highway (Ukraine), a road connecting Kyiv and Odesa
 * M5 highway (Russia), another name for the Ural Highway in Russia
 * M5 highway (Belarus) (European route E271)
 * M5 (Istanbul Metro), a subway line on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey
 * Metro Line M5 (Budapest Metro), a proposed metro line in Budapest, Hungary
 * Bucharest Metro Line M5, a metro line in Bucharest, Romania
 * Line 5, Milan Metro of Milan Metro
 * M5 Motorway (Syria), a motorway which connects the Syrian border with Jordan in the south with Damascus, and continues further north to Aleppo, to the border with Turkey

Sea

 * M5, originally christened as Mirabella V, the world's largest single-masted yacht

Media, fiction and entertainment

 * M5 Industries, a visual effects company
 * Maroon 5, an American pop rock band originating from Los Angeles
 * "M5", a song from the album Middle Class Revolt by The Fall
 * M5, the name for the production company of prolific session musician Marlo Henderson
 * M-5 (Star Trek), a computer featured in an original Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer"

Science and technology

 * Intel m5, a brand of microprocessors
 * Messier 5 (M5), a globular cluster in the constellation Serpens
 * M5 fiber, a high-strength polymer used in composites
 * CALM M5, a vehicular communications standard
 * Sord M5, a Japanese home computer marketed in the 1980s
 * Panasonic M5, a VHS-recording camcorder marketed in the 1980s
 * Amateur Radio, a UK Full class license prefix
 * M5, a full system computer architecture simulator for use in computer system design research
 * M5 Networks, a voice-over-IP company acquired by ShoreTel in 2012
 * M5, a diode part number of one of the 1N400x general-purpose diodes
 * Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M5
 * Sony Xperia M5, a mobile phone

Other

 * Coca-Cola M5, a line of five collectible aluminum bottles
 * M5 ISO metric screw thread
 * M5, a variety of Zircaloy, a zirconium-niobium alloy used in nuclear reactors
 * Moscow 5, a multi-squad esports team.
 * The MLBB M5 World Championship (otherwise known as M5), the 2023 edition of the world championship for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports
 * M05, FSV Mainz 05 soccer club
 * ATC code M05 drugs
 * M05 military camouflage pattern
 * Migration 5
 * M5, a difficulty grade in mixed climbing

title: M5


text:
Dasher (software)

Dasher is an input method and computer accessibility tool which enables users to compose text without using a keyboard, by entering text on a screen with a pointing device such as a mouse, touch screen, or mice operated by the foot or head. Such instruments could serve as prosthetic devices for disabled people who cannot use standard keyboards, or where the use of one is impractical.

Dasher is free and open-source software, subject to the requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2. Dasher is available for operating systems with GTK+ support, i.e. Linux, BSDs and other Unix-like including macOS, Microsoft Windows, Pocket PC, iOS and Android.

Dasher was invented by David J. C. MacKay and developed by David Ward and other members of MacKay's Cambridge research group. The Dasher project is supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and by the EU aegis-project.

Design
For whatever the writer intends to write, they select a letter from ones displayed on a screen by using a pointer, whereupon the system uses a probabilistic predictive model to anticipate the likely character combinations for the next piece of text, and accord these higher priority by displaying them more prominently than less likely letter combinations. This saves the user effort and time as they proceed to choose the next letter from those offered. The process of composing text in this way has been likened to an arcade game, as users zoom through characters that fly across the screen and select them in order to compose text. The system learns from experience which letter combinations are the most popular, and changes its display protocol over time to reflect this.

Features
The Dasher package contains various architecture-independent data files:
 * alphabet descriptions for over 150 languages
 * letter colours settings
 * training files in all supported languages

title: Dasher (software)