John 16

¹"I have spoken these things to you so that you are not ensnared into falling away. ²They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think they are offering a priestly service to God. ³And they will do these things because they have known neither the Father nor me. ⁴But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you. I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you.

⁵But now I am going to the One who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶Instead, because I have spoken these things to you, grief has filled your heart. ⁷But I tell you the truth: it is for your benefit that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, concerning justice, and concerning judgment. ⁹Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰concerning justice, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot carry the weight of them now. ¹³But when he comes—the Spirit of Truth—he will guide you into the whole truth. For he will not speak on his own authority; rather, he will speak whatever he hears, and he will announce to you the things that are coming. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and announce it to you. ¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I said that he takes from what is mine and will announce it to you.

¹⁶A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me."

¹⁷Some 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 to the Father’?" ¹⁸So they were saying, "What is this ‘little while’ he is talking about? We do not know what he is saying."

¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you debating among yourselves about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰Amen, amen, I tell you: you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will be grieved, but your grief will turn into joy. ²¹When a woman is giving birth, she has grief because her hour has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the distress because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²So you also have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

²³And in that day, you will not ask me anything. Amen, amen, I tell you: whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give to you. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be filled to the brim.

²⁵I have spoken these things to you in cryptic figures. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in cryptic figures, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will request the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

²⁹His disciples say, "Look, now you are speaking plainly and not using any cryptic figures! ³⁰Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God."

³¹Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now? ³²Look, the hour is coming—and indeed it has come—when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ³³I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have distress, but have courage! I have conquered the world."