John 15:1–16:33

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

¹“^aI am the true vine, and My Father is the ^bvinedresser.

²“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He ¹prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

³“^aYou are already ¹clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

⁴“^aAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit ¹of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

⁵“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he ^abears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

⁶“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is ^athrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

⁷“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ^aask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

⁸“My ^aFather is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so ^1bprove to be My disciples.

⁹“Just as ^athe Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

¹⁰“^aIf you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as ^bI have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹“^aThese things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your ^bjoy may be made full.

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

¹²“This is ^aMy commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

¹³“^aGreater love has no one than this, that one ^blay down his life for his friends.

¹⁴“You are My ^afriends if ^byou do what I command you.

¹⁵“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for ^aall things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶“^aYou did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and ^bbear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that ^cwhatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

¹⁷“This ^aI command you, that you love one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

¹⁸“^aIf the world hates you, ¹you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

¹⁹“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but ^aI chose you out of the world, ^bbecause of this the world hates you.

²⁰“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘^aA slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, ^bthey will also persecute you; if they ^ckept My word, they will keep yours also.

²¹“But all these things they will do to you ^afor My name’s sake, ^bbecause they do not know the One who sent Me.

²²“^aIf I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have ¹sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³“He who hates Me hates My Father also.

²⁴“^aIf I had not done among them ^bthe works which no one else did, they would not have ¹sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

²⁵“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their ^aLaw, ‘^bThey hated Me without a cause.’

²⁶“When the ^1aHelper comes, ^bwhom I will send to you from the Father, that is ^cthe Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, ^dHe will testify about Me,

²⁷¹and ^ayou will testify also, because you have been with Me ^bfrom the beginning.

Chapter 16

Jesus’ Warning

¹“^aThese things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from ^bstumbling.

²“¹They will ^amake you outcasts from the synagogue, but ^ban hour is coming for everyone ^cwho kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

³“These things they will do ^abecause they have not known the Father or Me.

⁴“But these things I have spoken to you, ^aso that when their hour comes, you ¹may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you ^bat the beginning, because I was with you.

The Holy Spirit Promised

⁵“But now ^aI am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘^bWhere are You going?’

⁶“But because I have said these things to you, ^asorrow has filled your heart.

⁷“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the ^1aHelper will not come to you; but if I go, ^bI will send Him to you.

⁸“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

⁹concerning sin, ^abecause they do not believe in Me;

¹⁰and concerning ^arighteousness, because ^bI go to the Father and you no longer see Me;

^11aand concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

¹³“But when He, ^athe Spirit of truth, comes, He will ^bguide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

¹⁴“He will ^aglorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

¹⁵“^aAll things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection Foretold

¹⁶“^aA little while, and ^byou will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and ^cyou will see Me.”

¹⁷Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘^aA little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because ^bI go to the Father’?”

¹⁸So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”

^19aJesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘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, that ^ayou will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but ^byour grief will be turned into joy.

²¹“^aWhenever a woman is in labor she has ¹pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a ²child has been born into the world.

²²“Therefore ^ayou too have grief now; but ^bI will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Prayer Promises

²³“^aIn that day ^byou will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, ^cif you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.

²⁴“^aUntil now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your ^bjoy may be made full.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in ^1afigurative language; ^ban hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.

²⁶“^aIn that day ^byou will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;

²⁷for ^athe Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and ^bhave believed that ^cI came forth from the Father.

²⁸“^aI came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and ^bgoing to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not ¹using ^aa figure of speech.

³⁰“Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we ^abelieve that You ^bcame from God.”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

³²“Behold, ^aan hour is coming, and has already come, for ^byou to be scattered, each to ^chis own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet ^dI am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

³³“These things I have spoken to you, so that ^ain Me you may have peace. ^bIn the world you have tribulation, but ^ctake courage; ^dI have overcome the world.”