¹⁷Therefore some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this He tells us: ‘A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’ ^k?” ¹⁸They said, “What is this He is saying, ^l‘A little while’? We don’t know what He’s talking about!”

¹⁹Jesus knew they wanted to question Him, so He said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me’?

²⁰“^•I assure you: You will weep and wail, ^mbut the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, ⁿbut your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹When a woman is in labor she has pain ^obecause her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, ^pshe no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. ²²So you also have sorrow ^qnow. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, ^rand no one will rob you of your joy. ^s²³In that day you will not ask Me anything.

“I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ^t²⁴Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. ^uAsk and you will receive, ^vso that your joy may be complete. ^w

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Footnotes

j16:16 Other add because I am going to the Father
l16:18 Other omit He is saying
•This is a phrase used only by Jesus to testify to the certainty and importance of His words; in Mt, Mk, and Lk it is literally Amen, I say to you; in Jn it is literally Amen, amen, I say to you.
q16:22 Other read will have sorrow

Cross references

h16:16 Jn 7:33
i16:16 Mk 2:20; 14:19
k16:17 Jn 14:12; 16:10
m16:20 Mt 11:17; Lk 7:32; 23:27
n16:20 Jn 16:6; 2Co 2:2
o16:21 Gl 4:19
p16:21 Lk 1:7
r16:22 Jn 20:20
s16:22 Jn 15:11
t16:23 Jn 11:22; 14:13–14; 15:16
u16:24 Jn 10:25
v16:24 Mt 7:8
w16:24 1Jn 1:4; 2Jn 12