John 14–16

Jesus’ Farewell Discourse

14“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe^a in God; believe^b also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because^c I am going away to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also. ⁴And you know the way where I am going.”

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How are we able to know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you had known me, you would have known^d my Father also. From now on^e you know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Am I with you so long a time and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself, but the Father residing in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves. ¹²Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in me, the works that I am doing he will do also, and he will do greater works^* than these because I am going to the Father. ¹³And whatever^f you ask in my name, I will do this, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.^*

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, in order that he may be with you forever^g—¹⁷the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see him or know him.^* You know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹Yet a little time and the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, why^h is it that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him.^{i 24}The one who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. ²⁵These things I have spoken to you while^* residing with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name—that one will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything that I said to you.

²⁷“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you—not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them^* be afraid. ²⁸You have heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ²⁹And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. ³⁰I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has no power^j over^k me. ³¹But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father has commanded me, thus I am doing. Get up, let us go from here!

The Vine and the Branches

15“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ²Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit. ³You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them^* into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples.

⁹“Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete. ¹²This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ¹⁷These things I command you: that you love one another.

The World’s Hatred for the Disciples

¹⁸If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated^* you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin. ²³The one who hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this happened^* so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a reason.’

²⁶“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—that one will testify about me. ²⁷And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Persecution of Disciples Predicted

16“I have said these things to you so that you will not fall away. ²They will expel you from the synagogue,^a but an hour is coming that everyone who kills you will think they are offering service to God. ³And they will do these things because they do not know the Father or me. ⁴But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them.

Jesus’ Departure and the Coming of the Holy Spirit

“And I have not said these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he^* comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: ⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in me, ¹⁰and concerning righteousness, because I am going away to the Father and you will see me no more, ¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

¹²I still have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them^* now. ¹³But when he—the Spirit of truth—comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you the things to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and will proclaim it^* to you. ¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he takes from what is mine and will proclaim it^* to you.

Jesus Predicts His Return to the Disciples

¹⁶“A little while and you will see me no more, and again a little while and you will see me. ¹⁷So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going away to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they kept on saying, “What is this that he is saying, ‘A little while’? We do not understand what he is speaking about!”

¹⁹Jesus knew that they were wanting to ask him, and he said to them, “Are you deliberating with one another about this—that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰Truly, truly I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will change to joy. ²¹A woman, when she gives birth, experiences pain because her hour has come. But when her^* child is born, she no longer remembers the affliction, on account of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²So you also are experiencing sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. ²³And on that day you will ask me nothing. Truly, truly I say to…