The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am^(A) the true vine,^(B) and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,^(C) while every branch that does bear fruit^(D) he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.^{(E) 4} Remain in me, as I also remain in you.^(F) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;^(G) apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.^{(H) 7} If you remain in me^(I) and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^{(J) 8} This is to my Father’s glory,^(K) that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.^(L)

⁹ “As the Father has loved me,^(M) so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands,^(N) you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^{(O) 12} My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^{(P) 13} Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^{(Q) 14} You are my friends^(R) if you do what I command.^{(S) 15} I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^{(T) 16} You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you^(U) so that you might go and bear fruit^(V)—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.^{(W) 17} This is my command: Love each other.^(X)

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸ “If the world hates you,^(Y) keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you^(Z) out of the world. That is why the world hates you.^{(AA) 20} Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[b](AB) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.^(AC) If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name,^(AD) for they do not know the one who sent me.^{(AE) 22} If I had not come and spoken to them,^(AF) they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.^{(AG) 23} Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did,^(AH) they would not be guilty of sin.^(AI) As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:^(AJ) ‘They hated me without reason.’^[c](AK)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “When the Advocate^(AL) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father^(AM)—the Spirit of truth^(AN) who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.^{(AO) 27} And you also must testify,^(AP) for you have been with me from the beginning.^(AQ)

3 See what great love^(A) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(B) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^{(C) 2} Dear friends,^(D) now we are children of God,^(E) and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a](F) we shall be like him,^(G) for we shall see him as he is.^{(H) 3} All who have this hope in him purify themselves,^(I) just as he is pure.^(J)

⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.^{(K) 5} But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^(L) And in him is no sin.^{(M) 6} No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.^(N) No one who continues to sin has either seen him^(O) or known him.^(P)

⁷ Dear children,^(Q) do not let anyone lead you astray.^(R) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^{(S) 8} The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(T) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(U) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(V) 9} No one who is born of God^(W) will continue to sin,^(X) because God’s seed^(Y) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(Z) are and who the children of the devil^(AA) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(AB) their brother and sister.^(AC)

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(AD) from the beginning:^(AE) We should love one another.^{(AF) 12} Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(AG) and murdered his brother.^(AH) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^{(AI) 13} Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[b] if the world hates you.^{(AJ) 14} We know that we have passed from death to life,^(AK) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^{(AL) 15} Anyone who hates a brother or sister^(AM) is a murderer,^(AN) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.^(AO)

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(AP) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^{(AQ) 17} If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^(AR) how can the love of God be in that person?^{(AS) 18} Dear children,^(AT) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(AU)

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends,^(AV) if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God^{(AW) 22} and receive from him anything we ask,^(AX) because we keep his commands^(AY) and do what pleases him.^{(AZ) 23} And this is his command: to believe^(BA) in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^(BB) and to love one another as he commanded us.^{(BC) 24} The one who keeps God’s commands^(BD) lives in him,^(BE) and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.^(BF)

The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne^(A) a scroll with writing on both sides^(B) and sealed^(C) with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel^(D) proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion^(E) of the tribe of Judah,^(F) the Root of David,^(G) has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb,^(H) looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures^(I) and the elders.^(J) The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes,^(K) which are the seven spirits^[a](L) of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.^{(M) 8} And when he had taken it, the four living creatures^(N) and the twenty-four elders^(O) fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp^(P) and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers^(Q) of God’s people. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:^(R)

¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.^(Y) They encircled the throne and the living creatures^(Z) and the elders.^{(AA) 12} In a loud voice they were saying:

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth^(AE) and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

¹⁴ The four living creatures^(AI) said, “Amen,”^(AJ) and the elders^(AK) fell down and worshiped.^(AL)