John 16-17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

16 “I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away.^{[a](A) 2} They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God.^{(B) 3} And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.^{(C) 4} But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

The Work of the Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’^{(D) 6} But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate^[b] will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about^[c] sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹ about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.^(E)

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.^{(F) 13} When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.^{(G) 14} He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.^(H)

Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”^{(I) 17} Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,’ and ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.^{(J) 22} So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.^{(K) 23} On that day you will ask nothing of me.^[d] Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.^{[e] 24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.^(L)

Peace for the Disciples

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

²⁹ His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! ³⁰ Now we know that you know all things and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.”^{(O) 31} Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.^{(P) 33} I have said this to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution, but take courage: I have conquered the world!”^(Q)

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,^{(R) 2} since you have given him authority over all people,^[g] to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.^{(S) 3} And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.^{(T) 4} I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.^{(U) 5} So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.^(V)

⁶ “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.^{(W) 7} Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, ⁸ for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.^{(X) 9} I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.^{(Y) 10} All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them.^{(Z) 11} And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.^{(AA) 12} While I was with them, I protected them in your name that^[h] you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost,^[i] so that the scripture might be fulfilled.^{(AB) 13} But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.^{[j] 14} I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.^{(AC) 15} I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.^{[k](AD) 16} They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.^{(AE) 19} And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰ “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,^[l] so that the world may believe that you have sent me.^{(AF) 22} The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,^{(AG) 23} I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.^(AH)

²⁵ “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me.^{(AI) 26} I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”^(AJ)