John 15-17

English Standard Version

I Am the True Vine

15 “I am the ^(A)true vine, and my Father is ^(B)the vinedresser. ^2 (C)Every branch in me that does not bear fruit ^(D)he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, ^(E)that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already ^(F)you are clean ^(G)because of the word that I have spoken to you. ^4 (H)Abide ^(I)in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; ^(J)you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that ^(K)bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me ^(L)he is thrown away like a branch and withers; ^(M)and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If ^(N)you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ^(O)ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ^8 (P)By this my Father is glorified, that you ^(Q)bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ^9 (R)As the Father has loved me, ^(S)so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ^10 (T)If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as ^(U)I have kept ^(V)my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, ^(W)that my joy may be in you, and that ^(X)your joy may be full.

^12 (Y)“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (Z)Greater love has no one than this, ^(AA)that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are ^(AB)my friends ^(AC)if you do what I command you. ^15 (AD)No longer do I call you servants,^[a] for the servant ^(AE)does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for ^(AF)all that I have heard from my Father ^(AG)I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but ^(AH)I chose you and appointed you that you should go and ^(AI)bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that ^(AJ)whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, ^(AK)so that you will love one another.

The Hatred of the World

^18 (AL)“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ^19 (AM)If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because ^(AN)you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ^(AO)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, ^(AP)they will also persecute you. ^(AQ)If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But ^(AR)all these things they will do to you ^(AS)on account of my name, ^(AT)because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, ^(AU)they would not have been guilty of sin,^[b] but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (AV)Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ^24 (AW)If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, ^(AX)they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have ^(AY)seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But ^(AZ)the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ^(BA)‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “But ^(BB)when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, ^(BC)he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And ^(BD)you also will bear witness, ^(BE)because you have been with me ^(BF)from the beginning.

16 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ^2 (BG)They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, ^(BH)the hour is coming when ^(BI)whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things ^(BJ)because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But ^(BK)I have said these things to you, that when ^(BL)their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, ^(BM)because I was with you. ⁵ But now ^(BN)I am going to him who sent me, and ^(BO)none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, ^(BP)sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for ^(BQ)if I do not go away, ^(BR)the Helper will not come to you. But ^(BS)if ^(BT)I go, ^(BU)I will send him to you. ^8 (BV)And when he comes, he will ^(BW)convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, ^(BX)because they do not believe in me; ^10 (BY)concerning righteousness, ^(BZ)because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ^11 (CA)concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world ^(CB)is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When ^(CC)the Spirit of truth comes, ^(CD)he will ^(CE)guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but ^(CF)whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will ^(CG)glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ^15 (CH)All that the Father has is mine; ^(CI)therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

^16 (CJ)“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and ^(CK)again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷ So ^(CL)some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ^(CM)‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ^(CN)‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? ^(CO)We do not know what he is talking about.” ^19 (CP)Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(CQ)you will weep and lament, but ^(CR)the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but ^(CS)your sorrow will turn into joy. ^21 (CT)When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ^22 (CU)So also you have sorrow now, but ^(CV)I will see you again, and ^(CW)your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ^23 (CX)In that day you will ^(CY)ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(CZ)whatever you ask of the Father in my name, ^(DA)he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in my name. ^(DB)Ask, and you will receive, ^(DC)that your joy may be full.

I Have Overcome the World

²⁵ “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. ^(DD)The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ^27 (DE)for the Father himself loves you, because ^(DF)you have loved me and ^(DG)have believed that I came from God.^{[c] 28 (DH)}I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now ^(DI)I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ^(DJ)using figurative speech! ³⁰ Now we know that ^(DK)you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that ^(DL)you came from God.” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Behold, ^(DM)the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when ^(DN)you will be scattered, each to his own home, and ^(DO)will leave me alone. ^(DP)Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have said these things to you, that ^(DQ)in me you may have peace. ^(DR)In the world you will have ^(DS)tribulation. But ^(DT)take heart; ^(DU)I have overcome the world.”

The High Priestly Prayer

17 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(DV)he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, ^(DW)the hour has come; ^(DX)glorify your Son that the Son may ^(DY)glorify you, ² since ^(DZ)you have given him authority over all flesh, ^(EA)to give eternal life to all ^(EB)whom you have given him. ^3 (EC)And this is eternal life, ^(ED)that they know you, ^(EE)the only ^(EF)true God, and ^(EG)Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I ^(EH)glorified you on earth, ^(EI)having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, ^(EJ)glorify me in your own presence with the glory ^(EK)that I had with you ^(EL)before the world existed.

^6 (EM)“I have manifested your name to the people ^(EN)whom you gave me out of the world. ^(EO)Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything ^(EP)that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them ^(EQ)the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that ^(ER)I came from you; and ^(ES)they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. ^(ET)I am not praying for the world but for those ^(EU)whom you have given me, for ^(EV)they are yours. ^10 (EW)All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and ^(EX)I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but ^(EY)they are in the world, and ^(EZ)I am coming to you. ^(FA)Holy Father, ^(FB)keep them in your name, ^(FC)which you have given me, ^(FD)that they may be one, ^(FE)even as we are one. ^12 (FF)While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have ^(FG)guarded them, and ^(FH)not one of them has been lost except ^(FI)the son of destruction, ^(FJ)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now ^(FK)I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have ^(FL)my joy fulfilled in themselves. ^14 (FM)I have given them your word, and ^(FN)the world has hated them ^(FO)because they are not of the world, ^(FP)just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I ^(FQ)do not ask that you ^(FR)take them out of the world, but that you ^(FS)keep them from ^(FT)the evil one.^{[d] 16 (FU)}They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ^17 (FV)Sanctify them^[e] in the truth; ^(FW)your word is truth. ^18 (FX)As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And ^(FY)for their sake ^(FZ)I consecrate myself,^[f] that they also ^(GA)may be sanctified^[g] in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ^(GB)ask for these only, but also for those ^(GC)who will believe in me through their word, ^21 (GD)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that ^(GE)they also may be in ^(GF)us, so that the world ^(GG)may believe that you have sent me. ^22 (GH)The glory that you have given me ^(GI)I have given to them, ^(GJ)that they may be one even as we are one, ^23 (GK)I in them and you in me, ^(GL)that they may become perfectly one, ^(GM)so that the world may know that you sent me and ^(GN)loved them even as ^(GO)you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ^(GP)with me ^(GQ)where I am, ^(GR)to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me ^(GS)before the foundation of the world. ^25 (GT)O righteous Father, even though ^(GU)the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ^26 (GV)I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love ^(GW)with which you have loved me may be in them, and ^(GX)I in them.”